:: Parellel Lives :: Touya Akira :: Part I ::

In the quiet of the night Hikaru lay awake, listening to the sounds of the silent house - the clock ticking, the slight hum of the fridge in his kitchen - familiar sounds. It was late, he knew, and he was sleepy, but there just seemed to be too many things on his mind for him to be able to drift off.

Turning slightly under the covers, he looked down at Sai asleep on the futon. The other man's face was peaceful, and one arm was curled under the pillow, long hair splayed about him like a halo. Sai smiled gently when he was asleep, Hikaru realized, and it made him look so unearthly that Hikaru found it hard to believe that this really was Sai - not the ghost, but Sai - and he was here with him right now, just like he had always been.

Hikaru reached out with hesitating fingers, just lightly brushing a few strands of that silky dark hair - not enough to wake his sleeping companion, but enough to assuage the sudden fear in his heart because he was so afraid, even now. So very, very afraid that this was all a wistful, wonderful dream that was the culmination of too many years spent longing and regretting.

"Sai..." he murmured, the familiar name slipping from his mouth easily. It was almost a little funny how he had never forgot, how he had never really moved on. You were so very important to me, and I... I never even realized.

He lifted his hand lucidly, almost as though in a daze, fingertips just ghosting over the outline of Sai's long hair, moving upwards and tracing the line of his jaw, passing over a pale throat and delicate collarbones, barely touching. In the dim light, it became once again painfully clear to Hikaru just how beautiful Sai was. Strange how he had never thought to notice before, but back then, he'd never noticed so many other things.

He stayed that way, fingers close but not really touching his companion for what seemed like hours. Enraptured by the long lashes of Sai's eyes that swept down against his cheekbone, the gentle curve of his pale lips... Hikaru felt something tightening within him, a little like longing, a little like sadness, but not quite. It was hollow, he felt hollow. He wished they could stay this way forever.

The other man stirred suddenly, and Hikaru abruptly jerked his hand backwards, heart pounding loudly in his ears, hoping that Sai hadn't woken up and he hadn't been found out. But Sai merely shifted slightly, and curling against the pillow a little more, he seemed to settle down and fall asleep again.

Hikaru breathed a sigh of relief, sense returning to him. What could possibly have made him do something like that? No matter his insecurities, such possessive behavior was just too much unlike him. It was unsettling, to say the least.

Turning around beneath his covers so that he was no longer looking at Sai, he forced himself to think about other things - like the match he was going to play against a two-dan (whom he did not quite recognize) tomorrow. But thinking about Go only made him think about Sai again, how he would play, what moves he would make, and most importantly, where he would play.

Would he go to the Institute? Become a pro? He was certainly young enough to still take the test although Hikaru could not be sure; but the mere thought that other people - strangers - would get to see Sai's Go sent an unbearable pang of loss through his heart.

I'm so selfish, he thought mockingly, fingers digging into his arms, shocked by the ugliness of his own character. But he knew that it would be doing Sai a great dishonor to his skill if Hikaru were to keep it to himself, and he would never do such a thing that was sure to hurt the other man so deeply.

He yawned suddenly, sleep seeming to finally catch up to him. The Institute... he thought sleepily as he half-drifted between wakefulness and unconsciousness. I'll go to the Institute tomorrow. Sai - will Sai ask to come?

:::

Waking up to see Sai still sleeping sprawled out on the futon next to his bed certainly helped assuage much of Hikaru's insecurities. In the clear light of morning, everything that had happened last night - his worry, his fear - they all felt like nothing more than a bad dream, like something his mind had conjured up while he was only half aware.

Slipping out of bed quietly, Hikaru made sure not to rouse the other man while brushing his teeth and changing. Then looking into his room and seeing that Sai had not yet woken up (something which was very surprising since Hikaru had always thought that Sai would be an early riser), Hikaru decided that he would just start preparing breakfast the way he normally did.

It was while he was in the middle of attempting to stir the miso soup and lay the table at the same time that Sai walked in, long hair tousled from sleep, still wearing the yellow shirt Hikaru had lent him.

"Good morning Sai," Hikaru smiled, watching a little worriedly when his miso soup started to bubble furiously.

"Good morning Hikaru," the other man greeted, coming up to look at what he was doing. "What is that?"

"Uh... soup?" he replied, noting with slight embarrassment that his soup was not looking very much like soup right then (it seemed to be turning into froth, from what he could see).

But Sai didn't comment, only nodded and straightened to look about Hikaru's spacious kitchen. He noted with some amusement that Hikaru had framed up one of Shuusaku's kifus above the kitchen counter, then his eyes widened when his gaze fell on what was on the kitchen counter.

"Hikaru, Hikaru!" he called excitedly. "You have a microwave, Hikaru! And a toaster! And a fridge!"

Hikaru nodded as he concentrated on his soup which seemed to have calmed down somewhat, listening amusedly to the sounds coming from behind him of what was certainly Sai opening and closing the fridge door as he watched, fascinated, the light inside switching on.

"Ne, Hikaru, is it true that the light in the fridge turns off when the door is closed?" he called, trying to look through the tiniest of cracks without actually closing the door.

"I don't know, Sai," Hikaru replied, beginning to ladle the soup into separate bowls now that he had managed to salvage it. "But that is what everyone says."

Placing a bowl on each of the place mats, he pulled Sai to sit down. "Eat Sai," he said. "I'm going to the Institute after breakfast and I think that you would want to come with me."

His response was one moment of stunned silence before he was suddenly engulfed in an over-enthusiastic hug.

"I love you Hikaru!" Sai exclaimed, smiling widely, his blue eyes close to Hikaru's face and very nearly glowing from his happiness. In his extreme joy, he almost failed to notice when Hikaru stiffened in his arms, suddenly turning rigid and unresponsive.

Pulling away, he saw that the boy was not looking at him and had his eyes, instead, determinedly trained on Shuusaku's kifu where it was displayed on the wall.

Sai felt his heart sink. "Hikaru?" he asked tentatively, suddenly worried that he may have overstepped the boundaries yet not knowing why. He used to hug Hikaru all the time back when he was a boy. Were things different now? Was he no longer allowed to do things like that?

Hikaru's eyes snapped back to his face, but there was still a strange quality to his gaze that made Sai feel as though the boy was not looking at him so much as looking through him.

"No, Sai," Hikaru murmured. "I'm fine."

:::

Arriving at the Institute later that morning, Sai's presence drew more than a few stares from the professionals and Insei alike. Although Hikaru had pushed him into the bathroom after breakfast and found him a blue blouse and white pants to wear which were thankfully neither emblazoned with a five nor yellow, it did not seem to help with the amount of attention he was attracting.

Sai tugged self-consciously at the collar of his shirt, not at all used to the style of clothes so different from the loose robes of the Heian Era - but Hikaru had made it perfectly clear to him earlier on that no, it was impossible to find traditional costumes like that nowadays unless one walked into a museum or a cosplay shop.

Sai didn't even know what cosplay meant, but it didn't sound all that flattering.

"Relax, Sai," Hikaru whispered from next to him.

Was his nervousness so noticeable?

"But everyone is staring at me, Hikaru," he whispered back. "Are you sure these clothes are what people normally wear?"

"I'm sure. They're just staring at you because you look like a pretty girl cross-dressing and even then you still look better than them. I bet they're jealous." The boy flashed him a teasing grin, green eyes bright and laughing.

Somehow, the sight of them made Sai relieved. That moment in the kitchen that morning had felt so off - Hikaru had been so cold as though he didn't want him there. It had made Sai worried, but seeing him smiling so widely now convinced him that he must have imagined it.

"I do not look like a girl," he pretended to glare at the boy. "Take that back this instant!"

But Hikaru only shook his head. "No, Sai. You do." His grin broadened.

"You meanie!" Sai exclaimed, indignant, attempting to poke him in his ribs.

Hikaru dodged, spinning around to grasp Sai's wrist instead. "You were always the mean one!" he retorted, pining Sai's hand to his side so that the other man couldn't attempt to poke him again.

"What? You know that's not true Hikaru!" Sai replied, trying and failing to free his hand from Hikaru's grip. "Exactly how do I look like a girl, you meanie?"

Hikaru pretended to think it over seriously. "Well, you have very long eye-lashes, Sai. And very, very long hair."

"Hikaru!" Sai exclaimed. "I can't help how long my eye-lashes are. People don't usually care anyway."

"Well I do," the boy retorted instantly, causing Sai to look down at him in surprise. Then the smile dropped off Hikaru's face and he took a step back, as though what he had said only just suddenly dawned on him.

"Hikaru?" Sai asked, suddenly unpleasantly reminded of that morning. "What are you thinking, Hikaru?"

When the boy did not answer, he leaned closer. "Hikaru?"

Those green eyes instantly returned to his face and there was a flash of a strange emotion in them before Hikaru jerked backwards, letting go of Sai's wrist at the same time as though he had just been burned.

They stood there, in the middle of the Institute lobby, awkwardly staring at each other for a moment - Sai confused, and Hikaru desperately trying to get his thoughts back in order. The tense atmosphere was thankfully broken, though, by the timely arrival of Touya Akira.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked, tone cautiously polite.

Hikaru's eyes immediately flickered to his rival. "Touya!" he exclaimed, relieved. "You're late."

"You're early," came Akira's quick reply, aquamarine eyes flashing slightly.

"Don't complain!"

Akira glared at him quickly before sighing and letting the matter drop. Nodding his head at Sai, he asked "Who is this?"

Hikaru immediately brightened. "Touya! I'd like you to meet a friend of mine."

The long haired man smiled and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Touya-san was it? My name is Fujiwara no Sai."

Akira's hand which had been halfway lifted to Sai's suddenly stopped. "Sai?" he asked. "Your name is Sai?"

Sai took a step back, slightly surprised by Akira's sudden intensity. While it was a look that he had been well acquainted with those few times he had played and watched Akira play in the past, it was still a little unnerving to see it in real life and directed at him instead of Hikaru.

"Yes...? Is something wrong Touya-san?" Because suddenly, those blue-green eyes had begun to burn with something Sai recognized as determination and from around the room, gazes which had been fixed on him before seemed to sharpen.

"I want a game," the boy said.

"What?" Sai asked, surprised.

"I want a game," he repeated. "Please," he added quietly.

Sai didn't need to think too hard to know what his answer was. After all, Akira had been the first person whom he had played with after one thousand years, and he had been thoroughly impressed with just that one game. Now, he could not help but wonder exactly how much improvement the boy would have made in the three years since they had last met. "Of course, Touya-san," Sai replied, glad that he was going to get the opportunity to play the prodigy again, and so soon too.

It was, he realized, the wrong thing to say because the next thing he knew, he was already being dragged into the elevators across the room with Hikaru dashing in after them.

"Where are you taking him, Touya?" the blonde-banged boy panted, barely managing to make it in before the doors closed behind him.

His rival turned to face him, those aquamarine eyes burning with a well-known fire.

"Where else?" he replied. "To the games room of course."

A/N: And several months late, here is the third chapter. I'm sorry! (Hides quickly behind the nearest object which happens to be an exercise book) In my defense though, my exams just finished last Wednesday, so here is the chapter written as soon as possible.

Anyway, plot development in this chapter! Hikaru is starting to become over-sensitive, fufu. And in the next chapter (Part II), Akira shall deliver some sagely and enlightening advice. Hopefully it won't be as behind time as this one...

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing (and keeps my muse alive).

MoonMyst