It began at a party, like a lot of stories between a boy and a girl do. This was a little different, though, because Akari liked boys, and so did Hikaru. Drinks were had all around because Akari had gotten into the university of her choice, but by the second one, Akari had put her head on Hikaru's shoulder and had begun to cry because her boyfriend had chosen that day to dump her. She spent ten minutes soaking the shoulder of his favorite shirt before downing her drink in one long pull and moving on to the next one. That was the beginning.

The next morning, as Hikaru visited to check on Akari because of the impending university, and the being dumped, and the probable hangover, she surprised him by already being awake and alert and eating dry toast with her tea. She dragged him upstairs to her room, only giving Hikaru a moment to hastily give his regards to her mother, and sat him on the bed. She took a seat by his side that was close to him without getting too far into the bubble of his personal space that was, admittedly, smaller than most people's bubbles. (Or so his boyfriend, Akira, always told him as he grumbled about having to be jealous.)

"Hikaru," she started as she pulled her long hair over one shoulder and started combing her fingers through the ends, "can I ask you for a favor?"

Wary, Hikaru scooted over and turned toward her so that one of his knees came to rest on the bed. "You can ask, but I have the right to refuse if you ask me for something too crazy."

She laughed and twisted the hair around one finger repeatedly for a moment, silence hanging in the air, until it stayed in a crazy little curl and she finally spoke. "I want you to have sex with me."

Hikaru credited dealing with a bunch of crazy go players for a living for the fact that he didn't immediately run from the room. "What? Akari, you know I'm not really like that."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes. I also know that you did manage to have sex with a girl before so you're still able to do it. I just... I'm pretty sure that Daisuke and I broke up because he was really pushing for sex and I know it isn't a big deal and I don't need it to be super special that first time, but I just didn't quite trust him because I don't know what I'm doing. So, if I have sex with someone I can trust not to make fun of me for something I do wrong, then I think I can be confident about it when I'm with a guy who does feel like the one." She let her hair go finally and looked at him closely. "You know?"

Hikaru wrapped his arms around Akari and pulled her into a hug. "You know that you've always been my friend. You're really kind of my best friend. And if I wasn't seeing someone, then I'd be offering myself up right now, as strange as it would be. But I couldn't do this if Akira didn't agree. So, you have to decide if you're okay with him knowing and holding that choice in his hands."

Akari embraced him in kind and Hikaru could feel her fists pressed tightly against his back. "Yeah, okay," she muttered against the neck of his shirt.

He pulled away from her and brushed her hair back behind her shoulder. "I'm seeing him later and I'll ask him then, okay? And, before you get paranoid, we are not going to sit there and make fun of you."

Drawing in a deep breath, Akari smiled. "Thank you for taking this as it's intended and not as some weird ploy to make you into the boyfriend I used to think you would end up being."

Hikaru remembered well the look on her face when he had countered her love confession with the news that he had just started dating Akira. It had taken her months before she'd started dating Daisuke, and they had been together just shy of a year. Things had been awkward between him and Akari until she had gotten her new boyfriend, but he did kind of feel like he had to do something for her in order to make up for the several years where he hadn't been a good friend to anyone, except maybe Sai. Their worlds were so far apart now that Hikaru had to fight to stay close with her, but it was worth it because she had always stuck by his side and now it seemed like she always would. She was the only one to take his being with Akira as though it wasn't a big deal at all, and yet she was the one it most affected. Well, except for his parents as he hadn't told them yet. He wasn't really certain they would want to know.

He couldn't say that he exactly wanted to do this, though. He had managed to have sex with a girl that he met at a go festival once. It had been just as he was struggling with his sexual identity and with his feelings for men, and Akira in particular, and it had gone well enough, he supposed, but the orgasm he'd achieved between the girl's legs hadn't been nearly as powerful as the one he'd had the evening before while stroking himself under the covers and thinking of his latest "fight" with his rival.

That had been his wake-up call. It still took him a few weeks to agonize over his feelings, but in the end he had done what always worked best for him and forged ahead roughly with little thought for what lay ahead. He hadn't bothered with writing a note to leave with Akira's shoes or to give him chocolate on Valentine's Day. He had pulled Akira into an argument over his game until they were the last two in the playroom and then Hikaru had told Akira that their rivalry was the thing that fueled his romantic and sexual fantasies, and that even if Akira didn't like it, they were still going to find the Hand of God together. Fortunately, Akira had stopped him by placing an index finger on his lips and inviting him over for a game. The game ended in kissing, but it had felt like such a natural extension of their relationship that Hikaru was glad, then, to be impulsive.

The only problem Hikaru really saw in this "Ask Akira!" plan was that Akira had been known to get mad at Hikaru for letting Yoshitaka hold onto his arm to drag him someplace and had even started to recognize that Ogata-san touched Hikaru way more than was absolutely necessary. Those little glimpses of jealousy warmed his heart most of the time, but they didn't bode well for Akari's request. So, Hikaru would ask because he'd told Akari he would, but a part of him was already preparing the best way to let her down as easily as he could.

Hikaru and Akira were already to the point in their relationship where they saw each other more often just to be together than to go on "dates". Dates were rare occasions that usually involved a particular row of restaurants in Shinjuku Ni-chome where they could hold hands and feed each other bites of food without worrying too much about being on the receiving end of judging looks and having to overhear hateful comments. Still, nearly every day they found themselves spending some time together whether it was Hikaru coming to dinner at Akira's house or the pair of them playing a few games of go at Murasakizui (it had taken Hikaru years to think of it by name and not just as "Touya-Meijin's salon") or things like today's meeting in the park not too far from the Ki-in where they were probably just going to eat the bento that Touya Akiko had sent along while studying the kifu of several international competitors that they expected to play that year.

It wasn't until lunch was a distant memory and Hikaru was sprawled out at Akira's feet and immersed in the pattern of a game between Ko Yeong Ha and another young Korean pro named Park Ki Jun that he remembered what he'd agreed to ask. Shaking his head at Park Ki Jun's use of a nobi that Ko Yeong Ha turned against him only moments later, Hikaru put down his kifu and looked up at Akira who was equally immersed in a complicated dance between black and white. "Akira."

When the other man didn't answer, Hikaru nudged at Akira's foot with his elbow. "Akira."

Akira finally looked up, but moved his thumb to cover the last stone whose significance he had examined. "What is it?"

"I have to ask you something."

"No, you can't spend the night. My parents are coming back into town early tomorrow morning."

Hikaru huffed a breath through his nose. "That is not even what I was going to ask. Besides, I knew they were coming back tomorrow."

"You actually remembered?" Akira smirked and kicked back at Hikaru's elbow.

Hikaru nudged back again. "Anyway... So, okay, this is really weird, but I promised I would ask you, so I'm asking. You remember my friend Akari, right?" He looked to Akira and waited a moment for a nod of affirmation. "Yeah. One of my best friends. Well, her boyfriend dumped her because they weren't having sex and somehow she got it in her head that I should take her virginity because she trusts me or something. I told her there was no way I could agree to that without asking you first, so I'm asking."

Akira let out a bark of laughter. "What?"

"What? Okay, I know that's really weird. Do I need to put it in the form of a question? May I have sex with Akari?"

"Yes."

"What?!" Hikaru threw the kifu he'd been holding and got on his knees so he was looking Akira in the eyes. "But you get mad at Waya when he grabs my arm!"

Akira shrugged. "Look, I knew going into this relationship that you were bisexual. That being the case, I can understand that there are certain elements of a relationship that I can't give to you. So I'm not offended if you want to have sex with a girl because I don't have those, well, parts. But I am better than Waya is every way so I would be offended if you chose him over me."

"It is not like that. I don't want to have sex with Akari. It would be like, uh, pity sex or something. Or like the gifts you give to people because they're giving you something but you totally wouldn't have gotten them something otherwise. It would be a one time deal and only because she has been my friend for a really long time and because I kind of accidentally broke her heart the day I told her I was dating you."

"It's still okay. Use protection, have your obligatory sex, and then come back to me."

Hikaru sat back down on the thin blanket they'd spread over the grass. "I wasn't expecting you to say 'yes'."

"You could tell her I said 'no' if you really don't want to do it." Akira moved his thumb off the kifu and went back to examining the moves.

"I can't do that. I can deal with one more awkward night. Maybe it'll remind me just how much I like being with you? And, besides, I don't want her to hate you without a good reason." Hikaru glanced around for the kifu he'd thrown and saw it tumbling across the grass toward a bush. "Ugh. Do I even want to bother chasing that? It's such a pretentious game."

"Ko Yeong Ha?, I assume"

"Actually, he's improving. But that Park guy? So many little mistakes everywhere. We'll cream him if he even makes it up to playing us."

Akira looked up and raised an eyebrow. "I take it Ko Yeong Ha has absorbed a little more Shuusaku into his style?"

Hikaru pouted. "It isn't a bad thing."

"I never said it was."

The phone call to Akari had been just as awkward as everything else about this ordeak for Hikaru. He supposed he could have just gone over to her house to talk to her about it. However, he didn't want her to get ideas about anything happening right away and he didn't want her to suddenly hug him or something because he'd gotten his boyfriend's permission to take her virginity. It was weird and he wanted it over, but he didn't want to do anything in her bed because, well, he'd had tea there as a kid. He had watched anime in Akari's room. They had done homework and talked about learning go, and it was where he'd been sitting when he told Akari about Akira being more than just the boy who stalked him sometimes. This was one memory he didn't want to mix with the rest. So, he called and they made plans. Still, since Hikaru lived at home, too, and he wasn't willing to do anything there either, that left a love hotel.

He had been a few times, actually. First with that girl from the go convention, and then a few times with Akira when circumstances otherwise prevented them from having, well, alone time. Each time had made it easier and easier to deal with the little quirks of the systems like figuring out which rooms were just regular rooms and which ones had some weird theme that was really kind of a mood killer. Because of Akira, he'd started researching which ones were a little nicer and which ones were a good price, and one of them had struck him as being the kind that would appeal to a girl. All of the colors in the rooms were pastel shades and each room was named after a type of flower, so Hikaru hoped that it would be the kind of thing that Akari would like.

So, the phone call. Akari had sounded excited, but a little apprehensive, and Hikaru had understood. He was mostly apprehensive and just kind of freaked out, but he was going to be having sex, so he didn't think it was going to be the worst thing ever. Akari was a very pretty girl and he had found himself at times over the last several years thinking that she was kind of sexy in a slightly demure way, so he did think that he could do this, even if their friendship kept trying to present itself as a roadblock. They made their plans. Hikaru would pick her up late in the afternoon on Saturday. He blushed as he recommended showering before they went, only mentioning his reason (because it was weird to sit alone in a love hotel room and wait for someone to shower) when prompted by Akari, and then they would go from there.

Until then, Hikaru had to research. He had experience with sex, sure, but his one time with a woman (whose name he couldn't seem to remember now) didn't exactly make him an expert on what made sex good for females, or for anyone, really. And, that was the thing. He didn't want it to be bad for her and he'd rather enjoy it than have a horrible time. So, after a lot of time spent online at an Internet cafe (and a lot of widened eyes and raised eyebrows and rapid clicking of mouse buttons to close windows), Hikaru finally managed to find his way to a website that had information about sex that wasn't based on porn; because he'd seen some porn, mostly thanks to Yoshitaka, and a lot of it looked really uncomfortable for the girls.

Hikaru actually took notes on what girls wanted out of their first time. And it was a good thing, too, because he probably would not have thought to compliment Akari on the outfit she wore to go get naked. It was two in the morning before he finally stumbled sleepily out of the cafe and he took a brief moment to berate himself for not playing a little NetGo as long as he'd been there anyway.

On Saturday, Hikaru slept in a little longer than normal. When he finally did wake up, he spent some time reviewing his notes. After a very late lunch, he went to take his bath and took great care to clean every bit of himself and go a step further to do things like trim his pubic hair and soak for a longer time than normal. The bath had long gone cold by the time he rinsed off a final time. He shook the water from his hair before grabbing a towel and rubbing it along his body, drying his hair most of the way with it and then soaking up the last few drips that had slid down his shoulders. He took extra time in blow-drying his hair and putting in hair gel. He put on just a tiny bit of cologne on his neck, and, as an afterthought, just a drop on each hip. He put on his deodorant and then put on an extra layer as a safeguard. He brushed his teeth twice.

He put on the Calvin Klein boxer-briefs that Akira had gotten as a present for him months ago with the assurance that they were way sexier than his usual colorful boxers, even though it felt strange to wear those underwear to do such a thing with Akari. He slid on the sleek black dress socks he only ever wore to the really important go matches. Pressed trousers held up with a belt and a starched white dress shirt, no undershirt, completed the look. He looked in the mirror and nodded at his reflection. And then he called Akira.

"I can't do this," he said as he sat on his bed, his hands nervously pulling at his collar.

Akira laughed softly. "Yes, you can. Remember, you have my permission. She's a very pretty girl and you are doing her a favor. You will be a perfect gentleman and once it's over you will stick around until she's ready to leave, and then you will call me. Okay?"

Hikaru took another deep breath. "Yeah. Okay. I just... I'm used to sex with you now. I know all the little places that make you moan and I know your ticklish spots and I know how you taste and smell, so this is all going to be weird."

"You don't know all of the places that make me moan."

"I don't?"

"No. So be a good boy today and get this over with and then tomorrow I'll introduce you to a new spot."

"Hmm? Okay. I'm going to go pick up Akari now." Hikaru tucked his wallet and keys into his pockets after standing up.

"I'd say for you to tell her 'hello' from me, but I fear that might be a little too strange, even under the circumstances."

"Akira! I'm hanging up now." Hikaru shut the phone and looked at it for a long moment before turning the ringer off and tucking it, also, into his pocket.

As he was about to head out the door, Hikaru's mother called out to him, "Hikaru-kun will you be home for dinner?"

"No, Mom!"

"Are you going over to Touya-san's house?" Mitsuko wandered over toward the entryway where Hikaru was sliding on his dress shoes. "Oh! You look so handsome."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "I'm going out with Akari. It's, uh, a go club reunion."

"Well, have fun. You're old enough now that I won't wait up. You've got your keys to let yourself in?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Good. You know your father doesn't get back to sleep very easily, so be quiet whenever you come in. Have a good time!" She waved and walked back toward the couch where Hikaru watched her pick up a book and remove a bookmark, immersing herself in the words immediately.

"Thanks!" Hikaru called out finally and took one final deep breath and squared his shoulders and headed out the door, carrying the backpack that he'd prepared that morning over one shoulder.

It wasn't a long walk down the street and around the corner to Akari's house, but by the time Hikaru was ringing the bell, his mouth was dry. The door opened and Akari's mother answered. Hikaru's mouth seemed to turn into the Sahara. "Oh! Hikaru-kun. Akari is almost ready."

"Thank you, Fujisaki-san," he finally managed to work past his tongue.

Akari got to the door a moment later, pink-cheeked and smiling. She slid on a pair of open-toed wedges that were just a shade off from her ivory colored minidress and laughed as she grabbed her purse. "I'll see you in the morning, Mom. Love you!" She kissed her mother's cheek and grabbed Hikaru's arm and walked him away from the door. When her mother closed it behind her, Akari laughed. "You should have seen your face. Don't worry. I told her we were having a go club reunion."

Hikaru sighed in relief. "Good. That's what I told my mom, too."

She nudged him with her shoulder. "So, do we want to invite over Mitani-kun and Kaneko-chan? That could be interesting."

"Akari!"

"What?! I'm not allowed to tease?" She stuck out her tongue. "Thank you again for this. And thank Akira-kun for me, too. This really does mean a lot to me."

Hikaru laughed. "Look, don't thank me until it's over, okay? I mean, I did some research and all of that, but this could still end up pretty miserable, you know?"

"You researched? Oh, god. Did you watch a bunch of Internet porn?" Her nose wrinkled at the thought.

"No!" Hikaru waved his loose hand at her. "But do you know how difficult it is to find out about sex on the Internet and avoid the porn?"

She coughed into her hand. "Um, yes."

"Oh, you looked, too?"

Akari rolled her eyes. "Of course I did! You've had sex with one girl and Akira, right? I'm not expecting rainbows and fireworks, but no pain would be nice, and so would getting some pleasure out of it."

"I really missed out by not dating you, huh?" Hikaru said suddenly.

She laughed softly. "It doesn't do you much good to realize it now. Besides, back when I was really interested in you, I couldn't compete with your other girlfriend."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What? I've never had a girlfriend."

Akari rolled her eyes again. "Go. Go was your girlfriend. She's still your mistress."

Hikaru cackled and clutched Akari's arm more tightly. "Let's just... have fun?"

She nodded happily. "Let's hope so."

Their good mood carried them as they took the Yurakucho line to Ikebukuro and then walked the short distance to Hotel Hana. As they approached the building, Hikaru pointed it out. "There it is. Oh, and now the question I realize I forgot to ask. Rest or stay?"

Tilting her head to one side, Akari pursed her lips. "Um, rest? I know you probably want to go be with Akira-kun after this to get the cooties off."

"Akari!"

She giggled. "You are so much fun to tease."

Hikaru smiled as they entered the building. He chose an unoccupied room and got the key and they made their way to their room. Walking past another couple who were leaving, Akari ducked her head and leaned against Hikaru and he held her closer.

Once inside the room, Akari set down her purse on a chair as Hikaru placed his backpack against one wall and she took a moment to look around. "Wow," she said softly. "They really don't want you to get bored in here, do they?"

Hikaru cleared his throat. "You can even rent a laptop and use the wifi if you need to get some business done with your pleasure." She laughed and her nose wrinkled and he was struck by her beauty again. "You really are beautiful, you know. You're going to be a wonderful catch for someone, some day."

"But not you." She eyes were bright, but her expression was solemn.

"I could never be everything you wanted me to be, Akari. And I really think that Akira is the one for me anyway. And, as you said, I already have a mistress. So we'll do this the one time and then you'll find someone who can love every part of you."

She nodded and blinked quickly. "So, um, this is going to be the first time we've been naked together since we decided to roll around in a mud puddle on our way home from our last day of kindergarten. You remember, when your mom upended us in the tub?"

Hikaru laughed. "I'd forgotten about that! Your pigtails were just two globs of mud. And didn't you lose your hat somehow?"

Akari slipped off her shoes. "Yes. That stupid hat. It took a lot of begging and pleading to get my mother to not try to buy me a new one. I hate hats."

Hikaru slid his own shoes off and picked them up so he could place them by her shoes. "You can get undressed under the covers if you'd rather, you know."

"No," Akari said suddenly. "I'm, strangely enough, not really embarassed. Because, well, I do trust you. And I have confidence in my body." She stood almost defiantly, her chin raised and her arms stiff at her sides.

Hikaru smiled and ran his fingers lightly down the outside of her arm, watching as she visably relaxed. "That's good. You should. Oh, before you take your dress off, you should know that it's pretty, but not as much as you are." He reached for the top button of his shirt and undid it.

Akira smiled as she batted his hands away. "Let me do that," she said as she slid each button, in turn, from it's buttonhole and revealed his chest bit by bit. As she pulled the tails from his trousers, he brought his hands to her back and grasped the zipper pull for her dress and slowly slid it downward until the straps of the dress slid forward on her shoulders and she lifted her chin to look at him. "Kiss me?"

He nodded and leaned down to press his lips against her own and took in all of the subtle differences between her and Akira. Akira was taller and had thinner lips and his tongue wasn't as pointed when it quested into his mouth and his breath was hotter against his face. Hikaru pulled away from Akari and tried to push Akira from his mind because, really, that wasn't helping.

She smiled at him and took a deep breath before bringing her hands down to unbutton his pants. She slid down the zipper and brushed her knuckles against his cock and he gasped. She giggled, just for a moment, and said, "Oh, come on. I'm a virgin, but that doesn't mean I haven't done anything."

"Oh?" Hikaru said as she pushed his pants down and slid her fingers under the waistband of his boxer-briefs and grasped his cock in her small hand.

"I've given a blow job a few times," she said as she stroked him to hardness and it was all Hikaru could do not to burst out laughing at the great divide between the look of innocence she wore and what they were doing, but the sensations jolting through his spine kept his mouth shut.

He grasped the shoulder straps of her dress and pulled it off of her gently as he stepped out of his pants, even though it meant her removing her hand. He mentally applauded his own grace, then lost his thoughts as he looked at Akari. She stood in front of him in a matching white lace bra and panty set. "You're amazing," he said and traced a finger along her side.

"You're not so bad yourself," she said as she reached behind her and unfastened her bra strap. She slid the bra forward and pulled it off slowly and let it drop to the floor and then stood with her shoulders pushed back and her breasts thrust forward. Her chest heaved as she looked at him.

Hikaru cupped one of her breasts in his hand and stroked his thumb across her nipple and she gasped and bit her lip. He lifted his other hand and did the other breast the same favor. A small moan escaped her and he stroked her nipples again, delighting when she hissed softly. "Let's get on the bed," he said finally; his voice low.

Akari held her arms tightly at her sides as she walked the few steps to the bed, but relaxed as she climbed to the center and lay down on her back. Her breathing was heavy still, but measured now. Hikaru kneeled on the bed beside her for a moment and then brought his head down so he could take one of her nipples into his mouth. He held it gently between his teeth and flicked his tongue against it and suckled it softly until she began to squirm under him and began to moan in earnest. He switched breasts suddenly and moved to straddle one of her legs so that he could have an easier reach.

Her legs were spreading slowly and the knee of the leg that Hikaru wasn't straddling was slowly rising. As Hikaru bit down on her nipple with just a little more force, he brushed his hand against the front of her underwear and she gasped and reached her hands up to clutch his shoulders tightly. "Oh!"

He quested his fingers down her thigh and slid two beneath the elastic band at the side of her panties and began to stroke them against her, somewhere amazed to find that she was already wet. He moved his fingers upward, tracing along her labia, until he found the little almost knot of skin positioned at the top. He captured it between his fingers and stroked it softly and she moaned through halting breaths and dug her fingernails into his back. Letting go, he slid his fingers further down and teased at her entrance. He slid one finger slowly inside of her and stroked her inner walls. After a long moment, he slid another finger inside of her and repeated his motions.

Suddenly, she reached down to grasp at his wrist. "I think I'm ready," she said panting and slightly red in the face.

He nodded and edged off of the bed so he could pull his underwear off and watched as she slid her lacy panties down her hips and wiggled out of them. She threw them across the room to land close to her discarded dress. Hikaru grabbed a condom from the tray of them near the bed and opened it carefully before putting it on. Sheathed, he moved into position between her legs and pulled her knees up to wrap around his waist loosely.

Taking a deep breath, Hikaru pressed the head of his cock against her entrance and pressed very slowly into her, hardly breaching her at all as he said, "Tell me if it hurts or if it's uncomfortable or if you don't like it or anything, okay?"

She nodded and exhaled slowly. "It's just a little strange right now, but not bad."

Hikaru pushed futher into her, but stopped before he was fully inside and stroked her inner thighs softly. "We'll stay like this for a moment, okay?"

"Okay." Her fingers clutched tightly at the bedspread and he watched her closely. As her fingers started to release, he moved his hand so that his thumb brushed just against her clitoris and she bucked against him and groaned loudly. "That's- That feels good!"

He pulled from her slightly and thrust back in experimentally as he continued to tease her. Her breath caught in her throat and she gasped and twisted beneath him and arched her back and he did it again. If took only a few more thrusts before she let go of the covers entirely and brought her hands up to grasp behind her knees. His thrusts increased in speed and he kept his pace steady.

It only took a few minutes before he was grimacing and thrusting hard against her and she was screaming in anything but an unhappy way. He collapsed on top of her and panted against her neck. "There. You're not a virgin anymore."

Akari giggled and let her head fall to one side, her breathing ragged. "And you're heavy. Get off of me."

Hikaru pulled himself from her and padded off to the bathroom to clean up. When he came back out, Akari had put back on her underwear and was holding his boxer-briefs up for him. He slipped them from her fingers and slid them on. "So, not too bad?"

She shook her head and looked down at her knees. "No. Good, even."

"Did you...?"

"Yeah. Twice." She bit her bottom lip and ran her fingers through her slightly sweaty hair. "Thank you again. I know this isn't the kind of thing you ever expected me to ask of you."

He chuckled. "This is kind of pushing the bounds of our friendship a little, I'll admit, but there isn't much I wouldn't do for you. I hope this proves that."

"Yeah." She smiled widely. "Let's get dressed and check out. Maybe we can get some ice cream?"

Hikaru smiled. "I'd like that."

After eating their ice cream, Hikaru saw Akari off to her train and then got on a different one that would take him toward Akira's house. He showed up unannounced, but it was something that Akira and his family had gotten used to, so that when Touya Akiko made dinner, she invariably made enough for Hikaru, and if he didn't show up, he'd probably eat the leftovers later anyway. That evening, Akira answered the door and just raised an eyebrow at Hikaru before turning his head back over his shoulder to say loudly, "Hikaru is here. We're going for a walk."

Hikaru leaned against the doorframe while Akira slipped on his shoes, put Hikaru's bag in the entryway, and joined him outside, shutting the door snugly behind him. "So, how was your day?" he asked Akira.

Akira laughed. "Uneventful. Played a game against Father this morning. Mother made mochi earlier this afternoon."

"Please tell me there's still some left."

"Of course she made extra for you, Hikaru."

"Yes!"

"So tell me about your day."

Hikaru put his hands in his pockets as they strolled along. "Weird, but not as weird as I would have thought? We both, uh, researched first. And I thought she was going to blush at everything but she had a few moments where she was taking control. It's somehow both the same and entirely different as having sex with you."

"So, the pieces are different, but they still fit?"

Laughing, Hikaru shook his head. "Well, yeah, but I guess it's more like how go is different in different circumstances. You play differently under Chinese rules, and you play differently whether you're black or white because of the komi, and it's all the same game with all of the same strategy, really, but... I'm such a go geek, aren't I?"

Akira shook his head slowly. "Something like that. But I understand, so I must be just as much of one."

"I think, in a way, I broke her heart a little more today," Hikaru said softly.

"Or you fixed it from where it was still broken from last time."

"You think?" Hikaru looked up hopefully.

Akira put an arm around Hikaru's shoulders. "If I know you, you gave her an amazing day. But you also wouldn't have let her keep any illusions that it meant anything more than what it was."

Hikaru nodded. "It came up several times, actually, because I was being really honest with her. If I'd even thought of her like that back before I fell for you, who knows what would have heppened? But I'm with you now and I don't see that changing in the foreseeable future."

After squeezing him tightly, Akira dropped his arm back down. "I'm pretty sure my parents know, by the way."

"What?" Hikaru stopped in his tracks. "What makes you think that?"

"Mother asked whether she should be buying a pair of hakama for you soon or if an obi would still be the thing to give."

"Um, were you planning on getting engaged? Because that whole stupid adult adoption thing or whatever that people do here is weird and I'd really rather not."

Akira cleared his throat. "I may have glanced a little long at a jewelry store window when I went shopping with my mother earlier."

Hikaru grimaced. "You didn't let her talk you into another sweatervest, did you?"

"She started discussing yui-no! I needed something to get her mind onto something else."

"Tell me it's at least not purple." Hikaru closed his eyes tightly.

Akira tapped Hikaru's forehead to make the other man open his eyes again. "It's maroon."

"Any argyle?"

"It's solid maroon." Akira held his head up high. "And I promise never to wear it with my pink shirt."

"Well," Hikaru said resolutely, "at least there's that."

Akira stuck out his tongue. "Haha. Oh, you should call Fujisaki-san at some point within the next few days as a sort of follow-up, don't you think?"

Hikaru returned the gesture. "Yes, Father. Ugh, see why I don't want to do the adoption thing? Creepy!"

"Everything is in how you treat it. If we did that, if, then we would not call each other anything different and there is always the possibility of my father adopting you and then we'd be legally brothers and you said yourself once that you could see where that could be kind of hot."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay, so there's that, but it's still obviously not the ideal."

"It's something to discuss in the future, not right now." Akira pulled Hikaru into a group of trees at the edge of a park. "For now, I want our mouths for something else." He pressed Hikaru's back against a tree and leaned forward to kiss him.

Questing his tongue out, Hikaru swiped it across Akira's bottom lip and tangled it with Akira's own. Akira sucked Hikaru's bottom lip into his mouth and Hikaru groaned deeply and spread his legs just enough for Akira to slip a knee between them and press himself against Hikaru's pelvis.

"Mommy! My ball went into the trees!" they suddenly heard from behind them as a red ball went rolling past them.

Akira pulled back and took a deep breath. "I can't say I'm going to mind it so much when my parents leave again."

Hikaru walked back out toward the sidewalk and Akira followed. "You know, you should just confirm your parents' suspicions and see if they actually object. I could, uh, invite my parents over too and we could tell them together or whatever we're supposed to do."

Akira tucked his hair behind his ears as a little girl ran near them to grab her ball. She smiled and waved and jogged back out. "Do you really mean that?"

Hikaru nodded. "I mean, I'm scared about it a little bit because I really have no idea what they think. But, it's not like I wouldn't be able to support myself if they kicked me out, and if you think your parents are okay with it, then if mine are there too, they might at least act better about it?"

"It's worth a shot, I suppose." Akira laughed. "It's funny. I wouldn't have thought that you having sex with a woman would advance our relationship."

"Well, that's kind of what it took for me to realize I was interested in you way back when. But, even without Akari, this has been a long time coming, hasn't it?"

Akira nodded. "It has, but there are times when I'm not sure how much you're actually invested in this relationship. With nothing on the line, everything is easy. I think I wanted you to stray, with permission, just so that I could make sure you would come back to me."

"Of course I would," Hikaru said as he nodded. "You're the center of my universe. Everything that I am revolves around you."

Wiping at the corner of one eye, Akira laughed. "You've got me getting weepy like a woman."

Hikaru laughed. "Never say that in front of a woman, okay?"

Akira shuddered. "I blame the fact that Ogata-san stopped by for a little while earlier on. He isn't entirely a misogynist, but it is certainly part of him."

"Just... no." Hikaru laughed. "You sure you don't want me to spend the night and sneak out in the early morning?"

"Stay for dinner and a few games of go and we'll see what happens." Akira strode a little faster back toward his house.

Hikaru followed quickly. "I still get mochi first, right?"

After the first game of go, Touya Akiko brought hot tea in for Akira and Hikaru. As an afterthought, she said, "Now, Shindou-san, you do know that you are more than welcome to stay the night with Akira-san, right?"

Hikaru, midway into his first sip of tea, spluttered hot liquid down the front of his shirt. "What?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was I not supposed to know about the two of you? Still, I know it must be difficult with Akira-san's parents here, so don't mind us and just continue on as you usually do. If you need privacy, just let us know." She waved her hand at Hikaru with a smile. "I'll get a towel for you." She disappeared through the door and Akira burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Hikaru said as he carefully set his tea down and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Just that we were discussing how much my parents probably approved only a few hours ago, and now we have their tacit permission to do whatever we'd like. It's refreshing."

Touya Akiko came in with a slightly damp towel and handed it to Hikaru. "If you would like, I'm sure Akira-san has a pair of pajamas that fit you. You may change and I'll wash your shirt for you."

With a laugh, Hikaru blotted at the tea stain. "Well, Akira-san? Do you have an extra pair of pajamas for me?"

"They're argyle," Akira said smoothly.

"Of course they are!" Hikaru stood up. "Well, looks like I'm spending the night then. Let's go get into pajamas and we'll play some more go."

Akira looked to his mother and bowed his head. "I must thank you for being so calm about this, Mother."

She crouched down by his side and ruffled his hair. "Parents are there to love their children and to be there for them even if no one else is. I can't say I'm not a little sorry that we won't be having grandchildren, but perhaps Shindou-san is enough of a child at heart that it will count."

Hikaru stuck out his tongue from where he was standing at the other side of the go ban. "Touya-san, Akira and I were actually discussing this earlier and we thought we might want to invite my parents over here to tell all of you together."

Akiko stood back up and took a step toward Hikaru. "We would be honored to have them over here for such a purpose. Will you be announcing your engagement at the same time?"

Akira blushed and finally stood. "No! It's, um, still a rather complicated affair for two men to marry in Japan. We're perfectly capable of handling commitment at the moment without a ceremony to bind us."

Hikaru laughed. "Like I said before, we'll see. If my parents aren't as willing and kick me out, maybe I'll want to be adopted then."

"Let's go get dressed," Akira said softly. "We can speak of this more later."

With a nod to Akira and a slight bow to Akiko, Hikaru led the way toward the entryway. He grabbed the bag he'd left there earlier and carried it to Akira's room where he set it in a corner. "I wasn't sure how long I was going to be with Akari, so I actually have a change of clothes for the morning in there, but no pajamas."

Akira opened his closet and pulled down a package from the top shelf and handed it to Hikaru. "These were a bit of a gag gift from Ichikawa-san, but they're a little large for me. They should fit you well enough, though."

"Just the one line of argyle down each sleeve and pant leg? I suppose I can manage that. The question is, though, whether you'll be able to resist me once I'm in it." Hikaru said as he pulled the black pajamas from the package and pointed to the gray and red designs.

Akira closed the space between them and grabbed on to the front of Hikaru's shirt. "I can barely resist you right now, even though I know you still smell just a little bit like her."

Hikaru dropped the pajamas on the floor and kissed Akira deeply as Akira's fingers made haste with his buttons. They got down on their knees and continued the kisses and the touches. Hikaru pulled away suddenly and put a hand on Akira's chest. "Let's get dressed first. And then another game. And tonight? You're going to show me that spot you teased me about on the phone earlier."

"It is a little weird with my parents in the house and awake, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Hikaru stood up and shrugged out of his shirt before grabbing for the pajama top from the floor and sliding it on. "So, just how bad are your pajamas?"

Akira pulled out a two-piece pajama set in pale green. "Not so bad, right?"

Hikaru shrugged and took off his pants before looking down at himself. "It could be worse."

"You could start to keep a set of your own pajamas over here, you know. The few times you have spent the night, I know we've been naked, but you don't have to be."

"I actually usually sleep in a track suit."

"Really?" Akira shrugged. "I don't think I could get the hang of that. Zippers bother me when I'm sleeping."

"But those buttons don't?"

"It's all in what you're used to, I suppose." Akira pulled off his clothes and stretched his arms above his head langorously as though he were putting on a show for Hikaru, before pulling on his pajamas and buttoning them up calmly.

Hikaru laughed. "If you're trying to turn me on with your old man pj's, it isn't working."

Akira frowned. "Our tea is getting cold." He led the way out the door and Hikaru closed his eyes for a moment to try to will away the urge to pull Akira back into the room by the starched collar of his pajamas with the intent to...

Taking a deep breath, Hikaru calmly followed Akira and turned his mind to the game ahead of them. He'd just won black before spitting tea on himself. With a grimace, Hikaru turned around and grabbed the shirt from the bedroom to bring down to Akiko. He had no real idea of how well a tea stain could set, but better to be sure.

When the sun broke through the hazy Tokyo morning and shone streams of light through Akira's window, Hikaru was the one who got them directly in his eyes and awoke with a start. He immediately brought an arm up to cover his eyes and squinted toward the window while groaning out his disapproval. He flipped over onto his side so that he faced Akira's back and smiled at the wrinkled collar of Akira's pajamas. He closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep.

The black pajama top he wore made Hikaru uncomfortably aware of the sunlight hitting his back which made him just awake enough to become uncomfortably aware of how full his bladder was (as last night's go game had led to two more mugs of tea), so he removed himself from the knot of blankets that had gotten wrapped around him during the night and stood up from the futon and padded out into the hallway in socked feet toward the bathroom.

As he was coming back out, he nearly ran into Akiko who smiled sleepily at him and covered her face with her hands. "Ah, Shindou-san! Ignore my plain face."

He shook his head. "There's nothing plain about it, Touya-san. Akira got all of his best features from you and if he can go without makeup, so can you."

She swatted at his arm gently and laughed. "I was hoping you would stay for breakfast. Do you prefer rice and miso soup or would you like to try my pancakes?"

Hikaru laughed. "Whatever you're making will be delicious, I'm sure."

"Pancakes it is, then. Akira-san never likes to admit that they're his favorite, but he's never gone back for thirds of anything else I've made."

"Would you like me to wake him so we can help?"

Akiko giggled. "Oh, no. Let him sleep a while longer. You should go back to sleep yourself. I'll come wake you when I've got everything ready if that's okay."

"It's fine." Hikaru waved awkwardly as he headed back toward Akira's room and straightened the blankets before sliding next to Akira again.

Akira turned toward him, bleary eyed. "Is something wrong?"

Hikaru ran a hand down Akira's side and trailed his fingers across the waistband of Akira's pajama pants to tease at his belly button and the sparse line of hair that trailed down from it. Akira gasped and his breath caught in his throat. "Just remembering your new spot."

With a laugh, Akira turned toward him fully and burrowed down into his pillows to allow Hikaru's shoulders to block the worst of the sun from his eyes. "You do know that you put that pajama top on backward after everything last night, right?"

Hikaru groaned. "Seriously? But I already saw your mom this morning. I hope she didn't notice."

"She wasn't asking a whole lot of questions, was she?" Akira wrinkled his nose.

"No, but she is making pancakes for breakfast. She seemed to think you liked them a lot."

Akira cleared his throat. "Well, yes. I kind of do."

"And you didn't tell me?" Hikaru shook his head. "I told you about Sai and about Akari and you can't tell me about your love affair with pancakes?"

With a snort, Akira turned back onto his other side and slid back against Hikaru. "It's not a love affair. It's just love."

Yawning, Hikaru placed a gentle kiss on the top of Akira's head and curled his knees up so that they nested with Akira's own. "Likely story. I'm going to watch you with these pancakes and we'll see who you love most." He still felt the sun's heat on his back, but it didn't feel like quite as much of an imposition anymore.

The sun was no longer such a bother when Hikaru awoke to a gentle push of his shoulder and heard Akiko saying softly, "Akira-san, Shindou-san, breakfast is ready!"

Struggling back to consciousness, Hikaru yawned and curled his arm tighter around Akira. "You can call me Hikaru."

"Then, Hikaru-san, your pancakes await. Kouyou is already downstairs enjoying his. Please, join us."

Akira laughed and struggled out from under Hikaru's arm. "Yes, Mother. Let us get dressed first and we'll be right down."

"Don't worry about that. Your father is in his pajamas, too. Come down like you are. Though, Hikaru-san, you might want to fix your shirt first."

Hikaru glanced down and noticed that he'd neglected to turn his shirt around when Akira had mentioned it earlier. "Of course. Give us a minute and we'll be right there."

She left the room and Hikaru pulled his arms from the sleeves and twisted the body of the shirt around his neck and pushed his arms back through before smoothing the shirt back down his torso. "Okay. A pancake breakfast with your parents in pajamas. Nothing out of the ordinary there!"

Akira ran his fingers through his own hair to resolve some of the mess and laughed. "Just be glad my mother didn't act like there was anything strange about you clinging to me like a barnacle in your sleep."

Hikaru blinked balefully. "Starfish." He spread his arms out wide and wriggled them. "Come on. I need sustenance so we can play a game before I go home." He let his arms drop back to his side and grinned widely.

"Provided I don't run off with my pancakes into the sunset?"

"Please, sunset is hours and hours away. We could get in several games by then." Hikaru strode through the doorway and led the way to the table.

Touya Kouyou was already flipping through the latest Go Weekly and taking small, delicately cut bites of thick, fluffy pancake. When Hikaru entered the room, he bowed to the older man who tapped at the page of the magazine with his slightly syrupy fork. "You played an excellent hand at 14-12 the other week against Kurata-san, Shindou-san."

Hikaru bowed his head again. "Thank you." He sat down in the chair furthest from the former Meijin and smiled when Akira took the seat next to him. "Akira's entire game against Serizawa-san was much more impressive."

Kouyou quirked his lips into a tiny smile aimed at his son. "Well, that goes without saying. Akira has always exceeded our expectations." He looked to Hikaru again. "I had hoped he would find a good rival as every good player needs to in order to stay at the top of his game, I hadn't expected him to turn rivalry into something much more permanent."

Hikaru coughed. "Um, thanks? So, what about your rivalries? Did you want that for Akira because you didn't have it for yourself?"

Akiko came into the room carrying a platter of pancakes and set it down in front of Hikaru and Akira. "Eat up. Kouyou has a lot to say about rivalry."

Kouyou frowned slightly. "I do believe she's teasing me, boys. But, to answer your question, I have had many rivalries. As I have risen in the world of go, there have always been those people whom I have matched up well against. But I have had the misfortune of doing so with those whose limits are met before I have met mine, yet I've had further fortune in finding another rival just as I have found need of one. And someday soon, I feel as though I will have met my limit and it will be the two of you who will go beyond me."

"Father-" Akira stabbed a chunk of pancake. "We only find limits when we allow them to be there at all."

Akiko passed a bowl of cut fruit down the table toward Akira. "Akira-san, whenever did you become so profound?"

Akira glanced over at Hikaru. "Probably when one of us needed to be the adult in this relationship."

Hikaru frowned as he brought half a pancake oozing syrup from it up to his mouth. "Says the one who needs help with the train station lockers." He dripped syrup on his chin and shoved more of the pancake into his mouth and chewed quickly.

"It was just that one time and I still think it was stuck on something." Akira handed Hikaru a napkin. "You still watch anime."

Akiko reached over and placed her hand on Kouyou's arm with a grin. "Ah, to be that young again."

He shook out his magazine and looked over it at Akira and Hikaru continuing to bicker. "Were we ever that young?"

"Oh, stop. You were young once, but go made you old. Don't force it on them before their time."

Kouyou took another bite of pancake and chewed it slowly. "I don't feel that I could force anything on them. I have never seen two young men so certain of their future and their place in the world."

Akira looked up suddenly. "Thank you, Father." He turned back to Hikaru. "Finish your pancakes. I want a game."

Akiko looked to the stack of pancakes left on the platter and then to Hikaru. "My, how the things that are important can change."

Hikaru didn't get home until almost noon. He walked in the front door, took off his shoes and slid on his house slippers and was about to wander up to his room when his mother came out from the bathroom. "Hikaru, where have you been?"

He shrugged. "The reunion actually didn't go so long, so I went over to Akira's house to play him and ended up staying the night."

"You didn't call."

"You figured I would be out all night anyway, what does it matter whether I was with Akari or Akira?"

Mitsuko gestured toward the couch. "Sit down with me for a bit, okay?"

Hikaru set his bag down by the bottom step and took a seat next to his mother. "Okay. What?"

"Are you dating Touya Akira?"

"What?!" Hikaru ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, what gave you that idea?"

Mitsuko sighed. "So you aren't?"

Hikaru looked down at where his knuckles were pale as he grasped his legs tightly. "I didn't say that."

"So, you are? Good."

"What?"

Mitsuko ruffled her son's hair. "Hikaru-kun, I want you to be happy. I know that go makes you happy, but even you have to want something more than that out of life. But you never seemed to give any girl as much thought as you gave Touya-kun. I know I don't understand rivalry, but I understand love. I've had my suspicions for years, you know, so I've read up on it. That is, being gay. And I support you in whatever you do."

Hikaru laughed and rubbed his palms along the tops of his pant legs. "You know, Akira's mom told us last night that she knows, too. We were trying to plan a time to get you and Dad over there to tell you all, and now we find out that we don't really need to do that because you all know." His eyes watered.

"Well, your father is a little bit more resistant to the idea, but he does love you and I think he realizes that it's his own prejudices that need to change rather than you. You still might want to tell him. I think it might mean more coming from you."

Hikaru nodded. "Do you... Do you still want to have dinner with Akira's parents? Because I know you've met them briefly before, but Akira and I have been dating for a while, really, and I think it's kind of serious between us."

Mitsuko laughed and wiped at her eyes. "Of course we would. When have you known your mama to skip out on a dinner party?"

Hikaru shook his head. "Mom! Um, is Dad here?"

"Upstairs in his little workshop. He's building another train."

"Do you think he's disappointed that I got into go before he could try to get me hooked on model building?" Hikaru stood up and looked down at his mother.

"I think he's sad that he doesn't have more in common with you." Mitsuko smiled. "I wish I understood more about your life, too, but that doesn't mean I'll stop loving you. Your father also loves you very much even if he doesn't show it as much like I try to."

Hikaru sat back down and hugged Mitsuko tightly. "I love you, you know."

She hugged him back. "I love you, too, Hikaru-kun. Now, go talk to your father." She pushed him away gently and wiped at her eyes again. "Would you like me to call Touya-san to arrange what night would be best for dinner?"

"You have their number?"

"Hikaru-kun, don't you think I spoke with Touya-kun's mother before letting you stay there before your first international competition?"

"Okay, yeah, I guess." Hikaru stood up and waved his mother off. "Call her, don't call her... Whatever! Just let me know." He bounded over to the steps and grabbed his bag. He dropped it off in his room and then walked over to the door to his father's little workroom. He could already smell glue. He rapped sharply on the door and then opened it carefully.

"Ah, be careful. I've got a piece drying on the table there." Hikaru glanced down to see a filled mold curing on a tiny table in the corner nearest the door.

"Hey, Dad. Mom wanted me to come up and talk to you for a bit about something."

Masao looked up from where he was sanding down the edges of the molded pieces of the body of the train. He had a large vinyl apron on over his undershirt and boxers. "Oh?"

Hikaru took a deep breath. "She told me that she'd talked to you about how I was probably dating a guy. And I wanted you to know that she's right."

"So, you're gay?"

Hikaru shrugged. "Not exactly? I mean, I like girls, too, but I like him the most."

Masao picked up a fresh piece of sandpaper and held it up to Hikaru. "Want to help me sand down the lines on the pieces of track?"

Hikaru kneeled down in the now-familiar seiza pose and began carefully taking off the nubs of plastic that remained from where the pieces had been part of a molded sheet of parts. "I know that you're probably a little disappointed in me."

"Hikaru-kun, you're one of my reasons for living. I know I don't see you often enough for you to realize that, but I care about my family very much and I'm bragging on you all the time at the office. Your grandfather tells me all about your wins and my boss is very into go, so it works out well."

"But you've never asked me to go play him?" Hikaru blew on the plastic piece in his hand to remove some of the plastic dust.

Masao looked up at Hikaru and smiled. "Why? I doubt you'd have any fun."

"If it would help you, I would play go against anyone." Hikaru clutched the sandpaper more tightly and felt it crumple in his hand.

"Then play Touya-kun. He's your boyfriend, right? Play him because it makes you happiest."

"Papa," Hikaru said suddenly even though he hadn't called his father that in years, "thank you."

"What for?"

"For... being understanding."

Masao laughed. "Well, it isn't something I understand. But you've proven that you can be trusted to make decisions for yourself. Just don't be afraid to keep your mother and I apprised of what's happening in your life. As with this, we may not understand, but we can still accept. Besides, your father is an old model kit fanatic, so I know a bit about what it's like to have to hide a piece of yourself from society."

"Fanatic? I hadn't realized you were that bad."

"Don't you remember your first Shonen Jump?"

Hikaru thought back, but couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been reading the magazine. "Not really."

Masao laughed. "You were three and came with me to the model kit shop. I was buying a tank and you wandered over to the rack of magazines and pulled that one out and wouldn't let go of it. Your grandmother didn't want you reading it, but it really helped you learn to read, so we pushed for her not to complain."

"But Grandpa loves Shonen Jump, too!"

"He'd never seen it until you sat down in his lap with a new issue and made him read it to you."

Hikaru laughed. "I did that to Grandpa?"

"And Grandma and me and your mother and anyone else with a lap." Masao grabbed a new square of sandpaper and started sanding down the edges of the wheels of his train model kit.

"I must have been a real brat," Hikaru said and brushed his sandpaper against the plastic a few more times before examining it for where to sand next.

"You were a child and you wanted to learn. It was frustrating at times, but there is a joy in reading to your child, even if it's some ridiculous manga."

Hikaru placed the piece of track and the sandpaper on the table and stood up again. "I'm going to go take a bath. And, to let you know, Akira and I are setting up a time for all of us to go over there for dinner one night. You haven't met either of his parents, have you?"

Masao shook his head. "No. But I'm certain we will get along fine."

"We planned it to tell all of you, actually, about us being together. So, I was going to tell you, just not today."

"It's fine, Hikaru-kun. Now be careful of that mold on your way out. One of my wheels was broken, so I had to make a new one."

Hikaru left the workroom, carefully, and went back into his room and laid down on the bed for a few moments.

A lot of things went through his mind, but chief among them was that he really did need a bath. He'd taken one yesterday, but had had sex with both Akari and Akira since then, and he was pretty sure he still had pancake syrup on his chin and probably plastic dust embedded in it now. But it felt good to just lay still and think. He'd spent too much time in the last few days just running everywhere. Even the go he'd played had been the fast, frenetic kind that took much more energy than the usual game.

Biting his lip, Hikaru picked up the phone and called his grandfather on a whim. "Hey, Grandpa. Feel like playing a game?"

Half an hour later, he was sitting across from Heihachi and grinning. "Grandpa, I think you have less and less hair every time I come over here. That's not going to happen to me, is it?"

He reached over and swatted at Hikaru's bangs. "If you keep killing it off, it'll go even sooner."

Hikaru placed a white stone on the board in response to the stones he'd forced Heihachi to place as a handicap. "I have something to tell you, Grandpa."

"I already know, too. Your mother called me."

"Seriously? Do I not get to have this talk with anyone?" Hikaru laughed and rested his head on his hand. "I mean, I'm glad you're all accepting and happy for me, but I've just been agonizing over this for a while and then it's just not a big deal to anybody."

"Hikaru-kun, we are your family. We have always encouraged you to do what feels right, whether it was joining the soccer team or playing go or doing that with your hair. If that boy makes you happy, then what can we say against it? If we were against it, you'd probably do it anyway just to spite us, right?"

"Um, I don't know," Hikaru said with a hint of a laugh.

"Well, maybe not out of spite. But you've always managed to know yourself better than most people your age do, and you're old enough to start knowing about love. So whether this is something that will last or maybe your heart will end up broken in the end, your family is still going to be with you."

"Geez, Grandpa, it's been your move for like five minutes and you haven't even looked at the board."

Heihachi laughed. "See if I brag about you to my friends anymore. Shindou Hikaru: what a brat!"

Hikaru stuck out his tongue. "I'll just have to go and do something even more amazing so that you can't help but brag about me!"

"You will anyway, won't you?"

"I might be the challenger for the Gosei title in a few months. I'm doing really well in the prelims. Two more wins and I'll be up for it."

"Your boyfriend doesn't have a title yet, does he?"

Hikaru snickered. "Well, he's one of the people I have to beat. It could be him, too. So, I could be the Gosei challenger or I could be dating the Gosei challenger. Either way, it's impressive, right?"

"If you win, get him to take you to dinner at some place that's really nice."

"Japan as a whole isn't as accepting as our families are, Grandpa."

Heihachi finally slapped down a stone. "Who cares about Japan as a whole? Maybe they just need to see more good examples. You can be goodwill ambassadors or something."

Hikaru slowly placed his next stone. "Do you think we could?"

"Don't let people tell you 'no' if it's not what you want to hear. It isn't wrong to want to be treated like a human being."

Rubbing a stone with his thumb, Hikaru smiled. "Thanks, Grandpa. Um, I forgot to ask before, but Akira and I are setting up a thing for our families to meet. Did you want to come?"

"If he sticks with you after you beat him out for a title, then I'll meet him, I'm sure."

Hikaru pulled his legs in a little closer to his body. "It's still weird, huh?"

"Hikaru-kun, I'm an old man. I don't adapt to change like I used to. But I want to be okay with it, and that counts for something, right?"

"Yeah," Hikaru said as he twirled a stone between his fingers. "I can't complain when my family still loves me. I even had a good conversation with Dad about it earlier."

Heihachi scratched at his nose. "People will surprise you. They have a capacity for love and for hate that is astounding. In the end, love usually wins, though."

Hikaru laughed. "Well, call me 'Love' then, because I'm winning this game, Grandpa. Next time, I'm making you play with another stone."

"This game is far from over!" Heihachi grinned at Hikaru. "You'll be resigning to your grandpa yet!"

That evening, Hikaru called Akira. "So, they all know," he said as Akira greeted him.

"Who knows what?"

Hikaru rolled onto his back on the bed and kicked his feet up in the air for a moment. "Mom and Dad and Grandpa. They know I'm with you."

"How did they react?"

Hikaru laughed and readjusted the pillow under his head. "Way better than expected, I guess. Everyone was just talking about how they love me and they have to respect my choices since I've proven that I can handle myself and all of that. Grandpa isn't all that cool with the fact that you're a guy, but he's at least trying not to let it be an issue, so that's something. Um, I think my mom called your mom about dinner?"

"So, we're still doing it even though everyone knows?"

"Akira, my mom has briefly met your parents and that's the only connection that our families have had and we've known each other for, like, a decade! Doesn't that seem wrong to you?"

"I see your point. I'll get with my mother later and see about the details since I know you won't bother to ask your mother."

Hikaru scowled. "We tell each other the things we need to know. So I don't ask a lot of questions! Most people like that about me."

"Hmm."

"So, I'll see you tomorrow at the Ki-in?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

When they finally hung up, Hikaru remembered his intention to call Akari. He dialed her number quickly and waited for her to pick up. "Hikaru?" she said excitedly.

"Hey! I wanted to make sure you were doing okay with everything. You know, school and life in general and all of that."

"You wanted to make sure I wasn't sitting in my room and crying as I pined over you, huh?"

Hikaru's eyes widened. "No! But, you aren't, are you?"

"No!" Hikaru could hear her giggle. "In fact, I feel better than ever. I feel, I don't know, empowered?"

"I kind of feel the same way," Hikaru said. "Akira and I told our families. Or, rather, we tried and they all told us they already figured it out."

"Hikaru! That's great. I'm happy for you. So, what does that mean for your relationship?"

"Well, um, I don't know yet. We're getting our parents together for dinner soon and we'll see how all of that goes."

Akari giggled again. "Hey, that should mean more sex for you, right?"

"Akari!"

"You have had sex with me now. You're no longer allowed to get embarrassed when I mention sex."

Hikaru turned back over onto his stomach and pulled his pillow underneath him. "I'm allowed to be embarassed whenever I want to be."

"And you're allowed to shut up."

Hikaru laughed. "You're so mean."

"Only when you deserve it," Akari said matter-of-factly.

Hikaru heard his mother calling him and rolled his eyes a little. "Mom's calling me for something, so I've got to go. Want to get together next week for something?"

"Hmm, karaoke?"

"Seriously? Okay, fine. But I'm going to try to bring Akira along again, okay?"

"Oh, do! He has a lovely voice, even if we did only get him to sing the one song."

"Talk to you later."

"Bye!"

And Hikaru hung up the phone and went down to see what his mother wanted now.

And that was how, after a very long oteai game against Tokumura-pro, Hikaru ended up going home with Akira to do the big meet and greet between their parents. "They couldn't have waited just a little longer? No, one day after confirming their sons are together, well, hey! Let's celebrate with soba! Ugh, I hate soba."

Akira shook his head. "You don't hate it. I've seen you eat soba before. You can manage."

"I only eat it if there's nothing else. Maybe I'll just eat a bunch of dessert. There will be dessert, right?"

"Of course! You know my mother, Hikaru. Any chance that she gets to feed people, they will be fed."

"I thought she knew I hated soba."

"Well, there's a pretty high chance that she's going to make some sekihan and sea bream with it."

Hikaru groaned. "But we're not getting married!"

"She's excited, Hikaru. I'm not going to take that away from her. Besides, isn't this kind of like a marriage?"

"No. If the government doesn't recognize it, it isn't a marriage."

Akira frowned. "You don't have a single romantic bone in your body, do you?"

"Well, now that we're going to have a few more places to be romantic in, I guess you'll find out."

"Really?"

Hikaru smirked. "I'm at my most romantic at night."

"So be romantic with the soba."

Rolling his eyes, Hikaru nudged Akira with his elbow. "That's ridiculous. Soba is not a romantic food."

"So what is?"

Hikaru bit his lip. "Hmm, I don't know, really. And, no, not ramen. In fact, just not noodles. How do you make noodles seductive?"

Akira shook his head. "You never saw 'Lady and the Tramp'?"

"What?"

"An American cartoon. Disney, I believe? Tell you what, stay at my place after dinner and I'll describe the scene and then we'll see how you feel about noodles."

Hikaru laughed. "Sure, why not?"

Dinner itself went well. After the initial awkward introductions and overly emotive displays of acceptance of the situation at hand, Kouyou, Akiko, Masao and Mitsuko began to talk about the one thing they had in common: raising sons who played go for a living. It was obvious that it was an eye-opening experience for Hikaru's parents who knew very little of what their son actually did at "work", but the conversation still flowed.

Hikaru was relieved to discover that soba was not actually the dinner plan that evening (he glared at Akira when the other man laughed at him for his relief), but when the sekihan and sea bream were Hikaru shook his head. "Okay, seriously, we're not getting married. I'm not getting adopted into the family. If we were going to do something like that, we would let you know! So, just, drop it with the celebrations. We're in love, but that's it so far."

Mitsuko dabbed at her mouth with a handkerchief. "Isn't that enough to be celebrating?"

Akiko laughed. "I wondered how long it would be until one of them told me to stop interfering. That's how you know it's serious."

Akira reached over and grasped Hikaru's hand tightly. "We're in love?"

Hikaru swallowed audibly. "Well, I am. Aren't you?"

"So, it wasn't obvious?"

Akiko laughed. "You know, boys, if you're done eating, feel free to go off to play go or whatever it is you would have planned without us around. We're fine sitting here and talking, aren't we?"

Masao nodded solemnly. "Yes. Hikaru-kun, we don't need you here."

So Hikaru and Akira stood up from the table slowly and headed toward Akira's room. As they headed up the stairs, Hikaru scowled. "And now's the part where they're going to really get into the stuff we want to hear, isn't it?"

Akira shook his head. "They're probably just going to do things like discuss us as children and talk about whether they should set up some 'rules' for our visits as long as we live in their houses and all of that."

"Ugh. We should totally move out."

"What we should do is to wait and see what happens. If it ends up being a problem, then maybe. But for the moment, we have two sets of extremely supportive parents in a country that is not very supportive of either our professional or personal lifestyles."

Hikaru sighed. "There you go with your being a kind and rational son again. Now that my parents know you, they're going to realize what a bad child I am."

Akira patted his boyfriend's head. "I'm sure they realized that years ago and just haven't gotten around to telling you yet."

"I'll show you. I'm going to shape up and be the awesome one. You are not going to take my position as my parents' favorite child!"

"You're an only child."

Hikaru laughed. "Yeah, well, whatever."

It was almost two months later that Hikaru was in a middle of a match and got a phone call and had to fumble in his pocket and paw at the buttons to, hopefully, send it to voice mail. He set it to silent (berating himself for not doing it before the game) and slid it back in his pocket. A few minutes later, he felt the phone vibrate against his thigh. He frowned and kept playing. The game was nearly over, anyway, but his opponent had yet to fully realize that there was no way for him to come back from his last bad hand. When he finally did (after Hikaru's phone had buzzed three more times), Hikaru scowled and stood up and hurried to finish up the recording of the game and the clean-up before grabbing his phone and looking at the display.

Wait, Akari had called five times but hadn't left a message? He hit the button to return her call and only had to wait a moment for her to answer. "Hikaru?"

"Hey, what's up that you had to keep calling me in the middle of a match?"

"Oh, that's right. It's game day. I'm sorry. I'm a little preoccupied right now."

Hikaru walked out of the Ki-in and took a seat on a nearby bench. "Akari, are you crying?"

He could hear her breath hitch before she spoke again. "I'm pregnant."

"I'm coming right over."

The seconds passed slowly as Hikaru took his usual train, but ran past his house to the Fujisaki home far down the street. He knocked on the door and let himself in a moment later. He kicked off his shoes, but didn't bother with slippers before rushing upstairs. "Akari?"

She was on the bed crying and clutching her pillow to her stomach. "Hey."

Hikaru stepped closer to her and sat down on the edge of the bed. "So, um, wow."

Akari sat up and crossed her legs and let the pillow fall to her lap. "Yeah. Um, school has been a little busy, so I didn't really notice that I'd missed a period. But today, at lunch, some friends and I went out to NcDonald's and the smell of the burgers just made me so sick to my stomach and then I threw up, and then I realized that I hadn't gotten my period. So I stopped at a store on the way home and bought a test and took it and... voila. Pregnant."

Reaching out a hand, he patted her shoulder gently. "Okay, so, what do we do now? I guess you get an abortion and I pay for it? Is that how this works?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I just... Wow. My first time. I guess it really was special, wasn't it?"

Hikaru smiled. "Pregnant after the first time with a condom. You're not, like, super-fertile are you?"

Akari laughed. "No, um, actually just the opposite. I didn't tell you about this, but I've had to have a few surgeries from where I've had problems with all of my, as you call them, lady parts." The smile that had begun to show itself dropped away just as fast. "They told me there was a good chance that I might never have children."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's embarassing."

"How is it embarassing?"

Akari started to cry again. "Because that's a woman's job, isn't it? We were designed to bear children, and if I couldn't, then I just had to work harder at everything else, right?"

Hikaru moved his arm to wrap around her neck and pulled her gently so that she leaned on his side. "So, what? You think that this is your only chance for a child and you want to take it?"

She buried her face in his shirt. "Yes."

Taking a deep breath, Hikaru pulled Akari's head away from where her tears were soaking through his shirt. "Whatever you want to do, I'm there for you, okay? So, if you want to end it, or if you want me to end up paying child support and changing diapers, I'm here. I won't say it doesn't terrify me, but I don't think I have any right to pretend that I'm the one who is taking the risk here."

Akari pushed her hair back from where it had fallen in front of her eyes. "What do I tell my parents?"

Hikaru's face tensed. "Well, I guess you should tell them the truth. They're not going to like it, probably, but I have it on good authority that parents can be surprising sometimes. But, if they aren't, you come to me, okay? We'll figure something out." He moved his hand to her stomach. "I'm kind of really happy, though."

She laughed while fresh tears slipped from her eyes. "Yeah?"

"Well, I'm with Akira. Our chances of having children together are kind of, well, non-existent. And both of our parents wanted grandchildren. So, maybe this is the answer somehow."

"Hikaru, who's going to want me now: a single mother?"

"Shh..." Hikaru kissed her forehead gently. "For now, you should probably prepare for the worst. Get a suitcase ready with whatever you would take with you if you did leave. I'll bring it over to my place. Then you can tell them tonight and if things go badly, you can just leave. And if not, you can come over and get your stuff."

"That's pretty well thought-out for you, Hikaru."

He pulled her closer again. "That was my plan for how I was going to tell my parents."

She sniffled and pushed herself up to a standing position. "Well, then help me pack." She walked over to her closet. Hikaru followed and grabbed her suitcase for her and put it on the bed.

Together, they filled it with clothes and a small photo album and a stuffed animal and a bag of toiletries. Hikaru took it down the stairs and grabbed Akari's school bag as well. "I don't think you're going to be up to doing any homework tonight, huh?"

She stood on the bottom stair step with her arms wrapped around herself. "No. I don't think so."

Hikaru slid on his shoes again and opened the door. "Call me if you need me. I'm going to cancel my plans with Akira, so if you need me to come get you or to come tell them with you or, just, whatever. You call me, okay?"

Akari nodded and lifted a hand to wave at him as he went out the door. The bags were cumbersome enough that it took a while to get to his house and get the bags inside. He took them up to his room and stacked them in a corner before pulling out his phone and called Akira. "So, problem," he said with Akira answered.

"What's wrong?"

Hikaru lay back on his bed. "It's Akari. She's pregnant."

He could hear Akira scoff. "You were supposed to use protection!"

"We did! Correctly and everything. And she just told me that she's had all kinds of complications where they thought she wouldn't even be able to get pregnant anyway, but now she is and she wants to keep it. Akira... She wants to keep it!"

There was a very long moment of silence.

Akira finally spoke. "Well, can you blame her?"

Hikaru shook his head. "No. But this isn't exactly how I wanted things to happen."

"No, of course it isn't. It's going to make things very awkward. Your parents have just found out that you're dating a guy and it's serious, but now you get to tell them that you've fathered a child out of wedlock, too."

"My mother is going to crucify me."

"Do you want me to come over?"

Hikaru snorted. "For what? To keep the nuclear meltdown to a minimum?"

"Hikaru, it's my fault."

"What? How? You're the one person who wasn't involved."

Akira sighed. "Because I pushed you toward it. You were all ready to say 'no', but I told you to go for it."

Hikaru growled and sat up. "It was still my sperm having happy fun times in there. No Akira involved for once."

"I still feel at least partially responsible. So, please let Fujisaki-san know that she has my support."

Scooting back on the bed until his back was against the wall, Hikaru pulled his knees up to his chest. "I helped her pack a suitcase and I'm keeping it at my place just in case her parents kick her out. Because, honestly, I think they will. What do I do?"

Akira took a deep breath. "Bring her here. My parents are out of town again. It will probably be a bit strange, but she'll be further away from her house than if she were to stay with you."

"You're the best, you know. I'm going to go now." Hikaru hung up the phone without a response and buried his face against his knees as his emotions overwhelmed him.

When the knock came at the front door, Hikaru was quick to answer it, but he felt like his stomach hadn't quite made the journey with him. Akari was standing there, tense, and her face was red on one side. "Hikaru..."

He pulled her inside and into a hug. "Hey," he said softly against the top of her head. "I take it things didn't go so well?"

Akari blew a breath out through her nose. "Before I could even finish telling them, Mom slapped me. I didn't even think. I just ran out the door." She pulled away slightly and looked down at her feet. "I'm still wearing my house slippers, but now they're all dirty."

"Don't worry about that." Hikaru gestured to a pair for her to change into. "Come on, let's go sit down for a minute."

Mitsuko was wiping down the table after dinner. "Akari-chan? Is something wrong?"

Hikaru gestured Akari toward the living room. "Go and sit down. I'll be with you in a minute." He looked to his mother. "Mom, Akari's pregnant."

Mitsuko waved her hand dismissively. "Well, that's not such a big deal anymore, is it?"

He pulled out one of the dining chairs and took a seat. "Well, it kind of is. Because it's mine."

Taking her own seat, Mitsuko seemed to sag down more than sit. "What?"

"She asked me to 'help' her because she trusted me and Akira was okay with it, so I did, and now this. And her mom slapped her when she found out, so she left."

"What do you intend to do?"

"She's not giving up the baby. She's had problems with, well, things, and they didn't expect her to ever be able to have kids, so this is like some miracle to her. But I can't marry her."

Mitsuko rested her elbow on the table and her head on her hand. "You could. You said yourself that you won't be marrying Akira-kun, and you know how people treat a single mother in Japan."

Hikaru shook his head. "No. She wouldn't be happy in a loveless marriage, and I couldn't do that to her even if it would make a lot of things easier. I couldn't do that to Akira, either."

"Have you told Akira-kun yet?"

"Yeah. He told me that I can take her over there to stay. Mom, I'm so sorry."

She looked up and he saw a tear trail down her face. "Hikaru-kun, these things happen sometimes. I can't say I'm terribly happy, but I do get a grandchild out of it, so I'm trying to focus on that."

"We used protection," Hikaru said as he sat back in the chair.

Mitsuko laughed. "Your father and I used protection the night that you were conceived. Like I said, these things happen sometimes. But they're not always the worst things in the world. I'll tell you what, why don't you go over to Akira-kun's house for the night, too? I'll tell your father for you."

"You're the best, Mom. I... Thank you."

She reached across the table and grabbed his hand and held it tightly. "Just promise me that you'll keep me in the loop, okay? You've spent so much of your life so far not letting me know what's going on with you and I've gotten pretty good at intuiting whether you're actually okay or not, but with this... You need someone on your side. If Akari-chan doesn't feel she can go to her own mother, I at least want you to know that either of you can come to me."

"You really are the best." Hikaru squeezed her hand back. "I keep thinking you're going to freak out when I tell you things."

"I freaked out enough when you decided you were going to play go professionally. But you made it work. You've grown into a fine young man and I think I'll end up proud of how you handle this. Now, you go get packed and I'm going in to have a word with Akari-chan, okay?"

Hikaru nodded. "It won't take me long. I... Akari told me on the phone earlier and I started packing a bag just in case. I was scared. Um, Akari has a bag here, too."

"See? You thought ahead. Even when you're a bad boy, you're a good boy." Mitsuko let go of his hand. "Go. Bring your things down. It won't take me long to talk to Akari-chan."

So he did. Akari's suitcase and backpack and Hikaru's own duffel bag and backpack were piled up by the door as he wandered past a conversation that included phrases like "vitamins" and "cut back on caffeine" and "continue to exercise, but carefully" and also had a whole lot of crying in it that Hikaru figured was probably equal parts happy and sad. As he stood by the door, he sent off a text to Akira to let him know they would both be coming over and everything would be explained at Akira's house.

Finally, Hikaru entered the living room. "Hey, Mom, do you happen to have a pair of shoes that Akari can wear? You're about the same size, right?"

Mitsuko looked down at Akari's feet. "Well, Akari-chan's are maybe a bit smaller, but she can probably wear something of mine." She patted Akari's hand gently. "I'll go find a pair for you." She stood up and left the room and Hikaru took her spot.

Akari smiled. "She's being really nice about this."

"Your parents might have understood if you stuck around a little longer."

"I couldn't-"

"Wait! I'm not saying you should have because your mom obviously hit you pretty hard, but just... Don't cut them out of your life yet, okay? Take a few days and then call them or something and see if she's calmed down."

"You know my mother, Hikaru. She's absolutely pig-headed and follows her initial instinct in the face of all opposition."

"We'll figure something out." Hikaru put his arm around her and helped her stand. "Come on. Akira's probably expecting us soon. You're going to love his house, you know."

Akari pushed back a clump of hair behind her ear. "I should have waited until after dinner to tell them."

Hikaru frowned. "We'll stop and get something for you, okay? Anything you want?"

"Hmm..." Akari smiled softly. "Soba."

"Soba? Ugh." Hikaru shook his head. "Well, I'm just glad that I already ate."

It was extremely dark outside when Hikaru and Akari got off the train and walked toward Akira's house, bags in tow. "It seems like a nice neighborhood," Akari said conversationally.

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah. And Akira's family has the nicest house in it." He pointed down the block that was lit sparsely with street lights. "That one."

Akari's laughed. "I guess playing go can pay well."

Rolling his eyes, Hikaru adjusted the two backpacks slung over his shoulders. "Yeah. If you're good."

It took a little time to manuever the rolling suitcase up to Akira's door and his hands were full at that point, so Akari knocked for him. Akira answered the door a moment later. "Hikaru, Fujisaki-san, please come in!"

Akari laughed. "Call me Akari. I suspect we might be seeing rather a lot of each other, so may I call you Akira?"

He nodded and took Hikaru's duffel bag. "Of course." Akira placed a pair of slippers in front of Akari. "I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about pregnancy, so I don't really know what you need or what you can't have, so just let me know if I'm doing something wrong. I won't be offended."

Akari shrugged and slipped out of the black flats that Mitsuko had given her and put on the house slippers as she watched Hikaru put on his own. "I don't think I know much more than you do. I read up on a few things online and Hikaru's mother talked with me a little bit, but I need to make a proper prenatal care visit and find out what I need to do." She reached up and wiped her eyes. "I'm really sorry that I couldn't just end things quietly and let this all go, but this may be my only chance and I just... I have to try, you know?"

Akira stepped closer to her and awkwardly put his arm around her shoulders. "I encouraged Hikaru to do what he did. So I bear a share of the consequences. We'll manage; all of us."

The conversation came to a standstill and Akira began moving toward the stairs. "Let me show you to the guestroom. A futon will be sufficient for the moment, won't it?"

"Yes. That'll be fine." Akari took note of where various rooms were as Akira pointed them out and she allowed Hikaru to put her things down in the guestroom. "If you don't mind, I have some homework to do, and then I need to go to bed. I don't have class until tomorrow afternoon, so I'll sleep in if you don't mind."

Akira nodded and took Hikaru's duffel bag with him as he left the room. Hikaru stayed behind for a moment. "You remember where Akira's room is, right? If you need anything, even if it's something small, you can come wake me up and I'll help you, okay?"

"Or I'll call you," Akari said as she lifted her phone from her pocket.

"Or do that."

"I shouldn't need anything, Hikaru. Go spend some quality time with your lover. I appreciate what both of you are doing for me, but I don't want to think that I'm getting in the way."

"But, you're not!"

Akari shoved him gently toward the door. "I will if you don't keep up your bond with him. I've got music I can listen to, so you can go and be as loud as you want."

"Akari!"

She giggled. "Hey, I have a friend who is way into BL. She let me borrow a DVD or two. It's kind of hot, huh?"

Hikaru shook his head. "We're locking the door, just so you know. Don't come, like, barging in or something."

"I have homework, Hikaru. Now, your homework is to go get laid. You seem like you could use the, er, relief?"

He left the room still shaking his head and went into Akira's room and dropped his bag and locked the door behind him.

Akira had just put Hikaru's duffel bag on top of the dresser and turned now to look at Hikaru. "Do you think she's going to be okay?"

With a nod, Hikaru began taking off his shirt. "Make love to me," he said softly. "I want to think about happier things right now."

"With her just down the hall?"

Hikaru laughed. "It was her idea."

"That's... kinky?"

"I don't want this to put a strain on our relationship," Hikaru said as he walked over to Akira and pulled the other man's shirt from his pants. "Things won't be normal, but we can try for being close to normal."

Akira grabbed his shoulder and pulled him in for a long kiss. His hands worked on their pants in turn as Hikaru's hands traced under Akira's shirt and dug into the lithe muscles there.

"I love you," Hikaru said as he pushed Akira toward the futon and stripped the polo shirt off finally. "So, no matter what happens, just stay with me, okay?"

Slipping out of his pants quickly, Akira tossed them to the side. "Of course." He lay down on his back on the futon.

Hikaru slid his pants down and stepped out of them. He knelt down and settled between Akira's knees and began to kiss the other man again.

Akira stroked his jaw lightly. "Do you want to take it tonight?" With a nod, Hikaru hooked his thumbs in his underwear and pulled them off as he got on his hands and knees beside Akira. Akira got up and pulled off his own underwear and ran a hand down Hikaru's spine as he pulled out a bottle of lubricant and a condom from under a corner of the futon. "I thought you might, you know. You only ever want to bottom when you want to forget about the world."

"Just... Don't hold back. I want to feel everything." Hikaru pulled over a pillow and nestled it between his folded arms and his head.

Drizzling lube carefully on Hikaru's ass, Akira laughed. "I don't think that will be a problem. Do you know how sexy you are right now?"

Hikaru tried to look back over his shoulder at the other man, but only got a good glimpse of his own shoulder. "It's still weird to hear you talk about things being sexy."

"Would you rather I say something about, oh, wanting to play tengen in your ass?"

"Also weird." Hikaru laughed. "But not exactly the worst mental image."

Akira slid two fingers along Hikaru's perineum and then pressed them inside of his ass steadily. Hikaru groaned and pushed back against the intrusion. "You want more?" Akira asked as he ran his other hand down Hikaru's hip.

"Just go ahead and do it," Hikaru said into the pillow. "A little slower than usual, but put it in."

With his slick fingers, Akira fumbled with a condom and got it on, and then spread the residue from his fingers onto his cock and then grabbed the lube to add another layer just in case. He pressed the head of his cock against Hikaru's entrance and pushed slowly, listening carefully to every hitch of his lover's breath and watching every muscle that visibly tensed and retracted until he was fully in and Hikaru's shoulders relaxed and he released his pillow from a deathgrip. "Are you ready?" he asked huskily.

"Yeah," was all Hikaru managed to get out before Akira pulled back and thrust forward quickly. Hikaru groaned and clutched his pillow as Akira set a frenetic pace from the beginning. His fingers dug into Hikaru's hips and he pulled the other man back onto his cock, groaning as the press of Hikaru's flesh against his own.

It didn't take long before Hikaru awkwardly moved one arm from under the pillow so that he could grasp his cock upside down and jerk it rapidly with his thumb digging into his balls on each stroke. His hips worked back against Akira's thrusts and he tried his best to forget that Akari was just down the hall doing her homework and listening to music. Hikaru wondered if she could hear any of their moans over her music and whether that was turning her on. He buried his face in the pillow and worked his cock faster as he came against his palm and stroked himself at a more sedate pace to milk the last of his seed out.

Akira gave several hard thrusts against his ass as he groaned and then several slower ones as his hands gripped Hikaru's hips almost too tightly before releasing him and pulling out. Hikaru struggled up to his feet and made his way to Akira's desk where he grabbed several tissues and wiped his hand clean. He gestured to the yukata hanging on the back of the door. "I'll go clean up first, okay?" He slid it on and almost ran to the bathroom where he cleaned himself off with a handtowel and then stood at the mirror for a long moment just looking at himself.

He went to leave the room, and nearly ran into Akari who was holding her pajamas and toiletry bag in front of her as she looked down. "Um, hey," she said softly. "I just need to brush my teeth."

Hikaru ran his hand through his hair and laughed. "We were loud, weren't we?"

She bit her lip and met Hikaru's eyes. "Okay, a little. But it really matched with the music I was listening to!"

"Let me just take back a wet cloth to Akira if you're going to be in here for a bit." Hikaru grabbed a fresh handtowel and moistened it from the sink and squeezed it out, trying not to look at Akari. "Remember, call me or come get me or whatever if you need me. For anything."

Akari nodded. "Okay."

Hikaru took the towel back to Akira and shook his head as he walked back into the room. "Um, I brought you a damp towel since Akari's getting ready for bed in the bathroom." He stepped toward Akira who was sprawled naked on the bed and dropped to his knees and started gently wiping Akira clean.

"I can do that," Akira said as he stopped Hikaru's hand with a gentle touch. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Hikaru shrugged out of the yukata and tossed it to the side of the bed. "It's a little warm in here. Want to sleep naked?"

Akira nodded and pulled Hikaru into his arms again. "With you? Always."

The next morning, Hikaru woke up with his nose wrinkling. "What's that smell?" Suddenly he sat up more quickly and tossed on the wrinkled yukata by the end of the futon and ran out in the hallway. "Akari?!"

She called out to him, "Sorry! I was trying to make breakfast."

He jogged over to the kitchen and shook his head at the charred remains of... something that was sitting in a pan in the sink. "Let's open up a window, okay?" He slid the nearest one open and grabbed a kitchen towel to try to wave away the worst of the smoke.

Akari picked up an pear from the bowl of fruit on the counter. "Maybe I'll just have this instead."

Hikaru laughed. "You're probably just not used to this stove. I know you can cook."

"Of course I can!" Akari bit into the pear and chewed for a moment. "My mind was drifting off to other things."

"I can understand that. How did you sleep?"

She shrugged. "I had to get up, like, twice last night to go to the toilet. But I got some sleep which is more than I expected."

"I thought the peeing thing didn't happen until you were huge?" Hikaru waved the towel a few more times and then dropped it on the countertop.

Akari had taken another bite of pear and chewed quickly with her mouth covered with one hand. "Thinking about it, it's something else that should have made me think something was wrong. Also, your mom told me that it happens at the beginning and the end. And that I should expect a lot of things to make me nauseous. I'm going to try to get an appointment with a doctor today and see what else I need to be doing."

"Resting, probably. Are you going to keep going to school?"

She shrugged and picked at a piece of the pear's skin. "I'm going to go through with the rest of this semester and then we'll see. I'm sure they'll let me take a semester off."

"What about going down and registering?"

Akari twisted the stem of the pear until it broke off in her hands. "I have to get the confirmation first. And, um, that's not covered by insurance."

"Oh, um," Hikaru scratched at his head. "Do you know how much you need?"

"About 10,000 yen." She shook her head. "Forget it. I've got enough in my savings."

Hikaru put a hand on top of her own that wasn't clutching the pear tightly. "It's okay. Money isn't really an issue for me, you know. I'm the one who got you into this, and I mean it when I say for you to come to me for anything, so I'll pay."

"I don't know much about registering the birth. What should I do if they ask for the father's name?"

"Tell them." Hikaru shrugged. "I'm not going to lie, Akari. We're both going to get treated like we're crazy for not getting married. And if you need to tell them about me and Akira so that they'll put all the blame on me, I'll understand. I can't imagine what this is going to be like for you, so I'm going to be here and doing whatever you need me to do, because you're my best friend. So say however much or little you're comfortable saying and do whatever it takes to keep yourself happy and healthy."

She set the half-eaten pear on the table and cleared her throat. "I need to get going or I'm going to miss the train. I decided to head to the library before class to go ahead and work on a paper. Please tell Akira-kun that I'm sorry about the burnt eggs."

Hikaru glanced at the sink. "They were eggs?"

"I'll give you a call this afternoon. Is that okay?" Akari brushed her hair from her eyes as she stood quietly in the kitchen.

"Yeah. I've got a thing later this morning, but I'm free by the time you're out of class. If you need me to meet you somewhere or whatever, y'know, don't hesitate to ask and all of that. And, uh, I'll pay you back when I see you again if you're in a hurry."

She nodded and ran off toward the guest room and Hikaru turned to the sink. Rolling up the sleeves of the yukata, he disposed of the burnt eggs and scrubbed the pan and tidied everything up. Then he picked up Akari's pear and finished eating it. He got rid of the core and the piece of stem she'd left sitting on the counter and headed back to Akira's room where he slipped off the yukata again and slid back into the futon and shivered for a moment until he slid up beside Akira and started to get warm again.

He tossed and turned for several minutes and decided that comfort was a lost cause. He slid back out from the futon, nearly waking Akira in the process, and put the yukata back on and walked over to Akira's computer. He powered it up and started the Internet browser and began to research all of the things that he suddenly had to think about but knew absolutely nothing about.

It was almost an hour later that Akira woke up, stretched out and got out of bed to pad naked over to Hikaru's side. "Pregnancy websites?"

Hikaru grimaced. "I just found out what a mucuous plug is. Tell me that they've figured out a way to delete memories?"

"Not that I know of."

With a shudder, Hikaru scrolled further down on the screen. "I swear that pregnancy just has to be some big magic trick, but a really complicated one that even when you know how the trick is done, it's still amazing. But gross. Really, really gross."

"She's not that far along yet, though, so why are you looking at all of this now?"

"Because I want to know?" Hikaru reached out and trailed a hand along Akira's hip. "Damn, you're distracting." He turned back toward the screen. "Besides, I need to find out about registering the baby and child support and all of that, too. And paying for it. I all but told Akari I would pay for everything. So, I need to be ready for whatever's coming."

Akira rested his hands on Hikaru's neck and began to massage it gently. "It would be so much easier if she wasn't such a close friend, wouldn't it?"

Hikaru raised his hand and clutched at Akira's hand that cupped his shoulder. "Well, then we probably wouldn't be in this mess to start with. But I do feel an obligation."

With a cough, Akira said, "We should get ready."

"Yeah. Can I just leave this pulled up?"

Akira reached over and shut off the screen. "It'll be there when you come back."

"Okay." Hikaru stood up from the chair. "Want to shower together?"

"Sure."

"And, if it still smells like smoke when you open the door, don't worry, okay? All taken care of."

Akira laughed. "Coming from you, that statement doesn't sound terribly comforting."

"Hey!" Hikaru opened his duffel bag and pulled out a pair of rolled up socks which he promptly threw at Akira's head.

Late that afternoon, Hikaru sat on the couch; impatient. His foot tapped on the floor and he checked the clock on the wall again every few minutes until Akari walked in the door. "How did it go?" he asked before she could even announce herself.

She shrugged. "Well, first of all, it's confirmed. Definitely pregnant. The doctor said everything looks good so far and I've got a few weeks to figure out where I want to go for my prenatal check-ups. Then I went and registered. They gave me a lot of information to look at and a handbook and this coupon book that will cover most of the appointments. There are classes I'll be able to take for free, too. There's exercise classes and how to change a baby and how to feed a baby and a lot of other things which is good because I've never even looked after a baby for more than a few minutes."

Hikaru smiled, a little flustered, and pulled out his wallet. He handed Akari 10,000 yen. "Sorry, I wanted to give you this before I forgot." He stuck his wallet back in his pocket. "That sounds good. So, um, I spent a little time this morning reading up on pregnancy and all of the laws about our situation. So, well, I know I wasn't there today, but if you need me for anything at all, I am in this. I'm no more ready to be a dad than you are to be a mom, but I am not going to back down and leave you in the lurch just because something is inconvenient."

Akari finally stepped into house slippers and hugged Hikaru. "You don't need to keep convincing me. I don't have a doubt in my mind that you're going to do whatever needs to be done." She stepped back and eased her backpack off her shoulders. "Listen, I should really go ahead and start on my homework. But we'll all have dinner together later, right?"

"Yeah. Is there anything in particular that you're wanting?"

Lips pursed, Akari tapped a finger on her cheek. "I don't know."

"Ramen?" Hikaru looked momentarily excited.

She wrinkled her nose. "Eh, no. Maybe curry?"

Hikaru sighed. "Still better than soba."

Akari giggled. "I'll cook it if you'd like to help. I can make up for burning eggs this morning."

"Well, I guess. I don't exactly cook much anywhere, let alone in Akira's kitchen."

"It's a kitchen. I'll figure it out. Now that I've been to the doctor, I'm a little more settled."

Hikaru followed as Akari headed into the kitchen. She began looking through the cupboards and pulling out what she needed. "I was kind of worried that he wouldn't have these," she said as she pulled out a box of the bricks of curry flavoring.

"I think Ashiwara brought those over at some point not too long ago to show Akira how easy cooking was."

"That figures, doesn't it? From what you've told me about Akira's mother, she seemed the type to make things from scratch." She set the box down on the counter and slid a cutting board over to Hikaru with a knife and two onions on it. "Slice those thin, would you?"

With a hint of a groan, Hikaru went to work. He cut off the ends and peeled off the outer skin of both onions before chopping one in half and starting to slice it thinly.

A moment later, Akari went racing toward the toilet. Hikaru set his knife carefully on the cutting board and chased after her. "Are you okay?"

She didn't get the door closed behind her before she was grasping the toilet seat and throwing up. Hikaru grimaced but stepped behind her and held her hair out of the way. "I guess morning sickness can hit at night, then."

Akari started to laugh, but dry heaved again. Hikaru looked away toward the sink. "I'll just look over here until you flush, okay?"

Several minutes later, Akari finally pulled her head away from the toilet set and flushed. "It was the smell of the onions," she said.

"So, what do we do?"

"Well, I had no problem eating onions earlier, so we can still have the curry as long as you cook it."

Hikaru, who was in the process of handing Akari a towel to wipe her mouth with, looked momentarily shocked. "Me?"

"There are elementary schoolers that master curry, Hikaru. I have faith in you."

With a sigh, he asked, "Okay. What do I do?"

An hour later, Hikaru was frantically stirring the curry to make sure he didn't burn a layer of it on the bottom of the pot. "Is it done yet?" he called out to Akari.

Akira chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. "Is what done yet?" He looked at the pot. "You made curry?"

Hikaru pulled the pot off the burner and flipped it off. "It has to be done now. And, yes, curry. Akari was going to make it but we discovered that she can't stand the smell of raw onions. Or cooking onions. She said they're okay once they're cooked, though."

Akari bit her lip as she wandered into the kitchen. She took several deep breaths and then waved at Akira. "Sorry. I hope you don't mind that we took over the kitchen."

"No, it's... It's nice. I'm used to eating out a lot when my parents are gone. I'm glad of the company." He smiled suddenly. "I'm glad to have both of you here."

Hikaru looked up from where he was opening the rice cooker. "Of course you are! We're awesome."

Rolling her eyes, Akari went to the cupboard and grabbed three bowls. "Yay! Curry rice. I hope it tastes as good as it looks."

Hikaru looked a little petrified. "Um, maybe Akira should try it first."

Akira laughed. "Oh, sure! I get to be the sacrificial lamb?"

"No! I just..." Hikaru stood back from the stove. "Fine. Both of you try it at the same time. And if you both die within a few minutes, I'll know not to eat any."

Akari put her hands on her hips. "What if only one of us dies?"

Hikaru looked between the two of them helplessly. "Um, uh... call an ambulance?"

Akira shrugged and took a bowl from Akari. "Well, I suppose that's a good enough answer."

They loaded up their bowls and headed to the table to eat. Akira bowed his head to Hikaru. "Thank you for the meal."

Akari also bowed her head slightly and giggled as Hikaru was actually the first one to take a bite.

Hikaru chewed carefully and swallowed and looked up between Akari and Akira. "Try it. It's not too bad." And to their surprise, it really wasn't.

After taking the dishes to the kitchen, Akira brought out a fresh pot of tea and said calmly, "Akari-chan, would you like to play a game of go with me?"

Hikaru frowned. "What? No. You'd slaughter her."

She laughed and shook her head at Hikaru. "It's like Hikaru forgets that he slaughters me, too."

And so Hikaru got to sit by while watching Akari place her handicap stones and respond slowly, but often satisfactorily, to Akira's moves. As the game slowed toward the end, she pointed to one of Akira's stones that he'd laid a dozen hands before. "Thinking about it, this move is so much like something Hikaru would play."

Hikaru looked at the board a little more closely. "What? No. I would never play that move."

Akira laughed heartily. "But you did. Against Serizawa-pro a few months ago. Akari-chan, I'm impressed that you know go well enough to discern something like that."

She shook her head and placed another stone. "Oh, it's nothing. I have played Hikaru quite a bit through the years, though, so I suppose I know his go a little better than most. Though, well, I do wish I were a better player. I started at around the same time that Hikaru did, but even though we had the same teacher, I was never destined to be a pro like Hikaru was."

Akira's eyebrows furrowed and he turned to Hikaru. "Sai taught Akari, too?"

Hikaru froze. "Um, no. Shirakawa-san. In the beginning, I took some classes and Akari ended up following along. It just took her a while to decide that she liked go enough to do anything about it, right?"

"Hikaru, who's Sai?" Akari's eyes were wide. "I know I've heard you say that name before. Why don't I know Sai?"

Akira covered his mouth with one hand. "Hikaru, I'm sorry."

Getting to his feet, Hikaru walked over to the window and looked outside for a long moment as Akari stared at his slumped shoulders. "Remember back when I found that go ban at my grandfather's?"

"When you passed out?"

"Yeah. Well, um, there was a ghost. Fujiwara no Sai." Hikaru trailed his fingers along the windowsill and didn't look back.

Akari shook her head. "What? You were possessed and the spirit made you play go?"

Hikaru's arms flailed a little as he tried to explain; turning toward her finally as he did so. "No! I wasn't possessed, at least I don't think I was? Anyway, he was part of the Fujiwara clan and was the Emperor's go teacher until this other guy totally cheated and then Sai drowned himself in a river and first he was a spirit by the side of Honinbo Shuusaku, and then me."

"I can't decide if you're a little more crazy than I thought, or if that was just the last piece of the puzzle I needed for everything to make sense."

"It's the puzzle option, Akari-chan," Akira said as he placed his next white stone. "I spent years and years trying to figure him out because our first few games together were so magnificent that he nearly gave me a complex, and then he was playing like an amateur."

"But he's gone now?" Akari said as she dug into her go ke for another black stone.

Hikaru sat back down near them, but a little further away than he'd been sitting before. "Yeah. He played Akira's father and then, the next Children's Day, he was gone."

Akari's eyes widened. "That's why you were pretty much a lump on the couch for months?"

Shaking his head, Hikaru gestured for her to keep playing. "I guess. He'd been with me for a few years at that point. Every moment of every day. Even when I wasn't paying much attention to him, he was still there. And then he wasn't. There was no goodbye, and we'd just had a stupid little fight, so it took me a really long while to get over it. I stopped playing because I didn't think I was worthy and that was why he'd left. But I kind of got coerced into a game and I found out that he was still there with me; there in my go."

"And you never told me any of it."

Hikaru shrugged. "I only told Akira a little before we started dating."

Akira smiled. "I thought he was crazy at first, too, but it made so much sense."

"It does make sense," Akari said as she finally focused on the board and played another stone. "For the longest time, I thought I'd seen something white just before you passed out, but over the years I'd convinced myself that I'd just seen a flash of light or that I was hallucinating from whatever made you pass out."

"You... I should have told you." Hikaru played with a loose string on his sock and looked calmly at the ground instead of Akari's face.

"You're telling me now," Akari said as she reached over and lifted Hikaru's chin with her finger. "I can see where you would be hesitant to tell anyone. But isn't it nice that two people know now?"

Hikaru grabbed Akari's hand and held it tightly for a long moment and then looked at Akira and smiled. "It is."

Akira placed a stone and captured one of Akari's and she grimaced and held another stone clutched in her curled fingers that she rested her chin on. Hikaru looked back down at his fraying sock and tried to blink away the sudden moisture in his eyes. "I've got to use the toilet," he announced and stood up and fled the room.

He wound up leaning on the sink and looking into the mirror thoughtfully. "I told Akari," he said quietly. He watched as a smile started in the corner of his mouth and worked its way across his face.

When their third morning together began, Hikaru started it with an awkward question. "So, Akari, have you tried talking to your parents again yet?"

She froze in the middle of taking a bite of breakfast and set her chopsticks back down. "No. I thought I might call them a little later. I don't have any afternoon classes today."

Akira sipped from his glass of orange juice. "It isn't a problem for you to stay here for now, of course. You're quite pleasant company, really. But I think we can all agree that we need to decide on a more permanent situation than the two of you living out of suitcases."

Akari brushed a grain of rice from her cheek. "I know. I'll have to do some laundry if I don't go home today." She smiled sharply, but it dropped almost immediately. "I should really just go ahead and get an apartment if my parents aren't going to accept me."

Hikaru frowned. "I... I can pay for that, too, if you need me to."

She shook her head. "Hikaru, you're not just a walking bankbook to me. Other single mothers have managed to find ways to get along before I was in this situation. I'll do what I have to do."

He pulled gently on one of her pigtails. "We shared in the creation of a life. So if you're going to keep it, I can't just pretend like you're my friend but that fetus doesn't exist to me."

"Embryo," Akira said. "Oh, sorry. I've been reading over some of the webpages that Hikaru had pulled up. At this point, it's still am embryo. But, by the time you go for your next doctor's appointment, it should be a fetus."

Akari placed a hand over her stomach. "It means a lot to me that both of you are doing so much for me. Akira-kun, I'm so impressed by you."

Hikaru laughed low in his throat. "He has that affect on people, doesn't he?" He shoveled another clump of rice into his mouth and chewed quickly but began to talk again before he'd swallowed. "Anyway, talk to your parents today and see what comes of it and we'll all sit together and figure out a plan for the future. 'Cause I'm sure that my parents are starting to wonder when I'm going to come home."

Akari frowned. "Hikaru, I'm sorry. I hadn't even thought of that."

He waved off her concern. "I've been away longer for go tournaments. This isn't a big deal. Besides, I've really liked this. Getting to spend all of this time with both of you? I don't think this would have happened otherwise. Even if Akira and I had told our parents, I don't think it would have occurred to me to spend this much time over here for a long while. And, Akari, I know that, really, things have been a little strained between us since back when I first met Sai." Hikaru ran his hand through his hair. "I was sucked into go and into Akira's life and left you hanging. So I was really glad that we started hanging out again a few years ago and then I had to go and screw that all up again, but maybe I've got a chance to make some of that right now."

Akira snorted. "You have a magical way of putting a positive spin on nearly anything if you try, Hikaru."

Akari nodded in reply. "He does, doesn't he? You would think I hadn't made his life difficult at all with this."

With a roll of his eyes, Hikaru said, "I can be just as negative as either of you! But, really, after losing Sai, I began to recognize that some things happen for reasons we just aren't ever going to understand, but they end up being the right things for us at that time. If this isn't one of those situations, then it's still something we all need to get through, so why not be positive about it?"

Hikaru was suddenly in the middle of a hug sandwich. Akari pressed her face against his right shoulder and Akira's hair tickled the side of his neck. With a sniffle, Akari said, "If you keep this up, I don't think I'd be too sad if I did have to end up staying here."

"We'll just have a house of three, then. Always someone there to change a dirty diaper or take over a feeding. It would be unconventional, but we could make it work, right?" Hikaru said it with a certain seriousness because it sounded so good, but the way that Akira and Akari both pulled away from him told him that his impetuous desire wasn't going to work for either of them. He frowned and shrugged off their arms and went back to his breakfast. "I was only kidding. But we can manage until we find a better option."

The rest of breakfast was a somber affair.

That afternoon found Hikaru sitting on the couch with his foot tapping again. "Where is she?" He looked over at Akira who was reading a book, though Hikaru couldn't be bothered to read the cover or even to glance at the pages for telltale kifu.

Akira tucked a bookmark between the pages and frowned. "There couldn't be a problem with the baby, could there?"

Hikaru's eyes went wide and he quickly pulled his phone from his pocket and said as he flicked through his contacts list, "I hadn't even considered that."

"I'm sure it's nothing."

Holding the phone to his ear, Hikaru frowned and his brows furrowed. It took a long moment, but his face lit back up again as Akari answered. "Hikaru?"

"Akari! Are you okay?" Hikaru stood up and started to pace in front of the couch.

"Mostly. I had a really long conversation with my mom and I'm walking back to you from the station right now."

Hikaru let out a huff of breath and sat back down heavily. "How did it go?"

"I'll tell you when I get there. My hands are kind of full right now."

Hikaru pulled the phone from his ear and looked at it for a long moment. "She hung up on me." His nose wrinkled. "Wait, hands full?" He shoved the phone in his pocket and headed toward the entryway where he threw on his shoes and opened the door and got to dash outside all of three meters before he saw Akari holding a large box in front of her with another bag over her shoulder. "Akari?"

There were hints of tear tracks on her face, but she smiled anyway. "Could you get this box? It isn't very heavy, just awkward."

"Of course." Hikaru took it out of her hands and was surprised at the heft of it after her words. "What happened?"

"Let's get inside first. I want to sit down."

And there was a lull in the conversation as they entered the house and put down the box and the bag and they took off their shoes and put on slippers and padded into the living room. "Hikaru, could you get me a glass of water?"

Hikaru felt his eyes roll a little at the request, but he managed to fulfill it without appearing obviously put out about it. "So?" he said as he placed the glass in her hands.

She took a long sip and then held the glass in front of her. "Long story short? They kicked me out."

Akira finally set his book down on the table and leaned forward. "Why?"

"I called Mom and she didn't even say anything when she answered. So I started in about how I was sorry and how I miss them and she just started yelling at me for being foolish. And maybe I am being foolish, but aren't parents supposed to help their children fulfill their foolish wishes if they can? I don't know. In the end, we came to an impasse. She said I wouldn't be allowed in the house until I got an abortion, and I've already made the decision not to do that. So she told me to come over and get my things so she could start to clean out my room tomorrow and have a proper sewing room." Her expression was nearly blank, but tears lined her eyes.

"It's okay," Hikaru said as he glanced helplessly at Akira. "After dinner, we'll discuss options. Right?"

Akira nodded. "Yes. Maybe we should order something to be delivered? How about sushi? Wait, Akari-chan, are you allowed sushi?"

"A little. Not really a full meal's worth. But what I really want is soba, anyway."

Hikaru's nose wrinkled. "Again?"

She shrugged. "It's a craving, I guess. Besides, you're supposed to eat all of the foods of where you come from when you're pregnant, and that's soba. It's also pretty nutritious. I haven't managed to do anything about taking a vitamin yet."

"Akachan Honpo," Hikaru said. "They carry prenatal vitamins. I was reading more. It seems most doctors in Japan don't bother recommending prenatal vitamins because they assume you'll get it from your diet or from a daily vitamin, but you don't take one, do you? So maybe try those. I can go pick some up."

Akira laughed. "You're saying that because you like the noodle shop over in Sumida that does ramen and soba, aren't you?"

Hikaru crossed his arms in front of his chest. "They do udon, too. I can go out and put in the order, go pick up the vitamins, grab the noodles and be back here in less than half an hour. Win-win situation, right?"

Akari licked her lips. "That's the place with the junenjo soba, right? Oh, the yam just makes it."

"You wouldn't deny a pregnant woman her stupid yam soba, would you?" Hikaru said with a grin as he looked at Akira.

"Oh, fine," Akira relented. "But I want katsudon. And I don't like the egg to get too cooked, so you had better hurry back. Akari-chan and I will entertain each other while you're gone."

Hikaru jumped to his feet and checked that he had enough money in his wallet. "Yes!"

As he changed back into his shoes, Hikaru overheard Akira say to Akari, "Has he always liked ramen this much or was that an aftereffect of Sai as well?"

Akari laughed. "Ramen was actually his first multi-syllable word."

Akira snorted. "Of course it was."

After putting in his order for the various kinds of noodles and paying, Hikaru high-tailed it to the 5th floor of the Arca K!T building in Kinshi and ran inside the shop and stopped for a moment to look around, floored by how many things there were that could possibly have to do with babies. The racks were overflowing with merchandise and the open floorplan didn't exactly tell him where he should be looking. He saw someone with a nametag and ran over to ask where the vitamins were. Pointed in the right direction, he took off and looked through the shelves and chose a package of Pigeon vitamins. Well, folic acid with calcium. He seemed to recall that was what pregnant women needed to get extra of, anyway. On a whim, he picked up three of the packages.

He dashed up to the register and waited his turn in line, the three sleeves of vitamins clutched in his fingers. But as he waited, his eyes were drawn to more and more things. Diapers and clothing and toys and furniture... And it hit him, suddenly, just how big of a deal babies were. Because they needed a whole lot and couldn't get any of it for themselves.

In the checkout line, someone seemed to have decided against buying a small yellow plush duck and had placed it on a display. Hikaru picked it up with his free hand and looked at it for a long moment until it was suddenly his turn at the register. He handed he cashier the vitamins and, on a further whim, the duck. He paid and took his bag and ran back out of the building and on to the noodle shop where he took his noodles and then dashed back to Akira's house.

He raced in the door and found Akari sitting with Akira on the couch still, and laughing heartily. "What's up?" he asked as he put his things down and toed off his shoes.

Akira stood and walked to him and took the noodles and headed toward the dining table. Akari followed and Hikaru took a moment to hand her the Akachan Honpo bag. "Really, what were you laughing about?"

Akari giggled. "Just relating some stories from your childhood."

Hikaru froze in place. "No. Tell me that you didn't tell him about that."

"About the time you peed in a fountain and then fell in? No," Akira said from the next room.

"Akari!" Hikaru pouted, but followed her into the other room and took a seat at the table with his salt ramen where there were glasses of water at each seat already.

She shrugged. "Well, Akira and I only really have two things in common. You, and go. We tried talking about go first, but my level just isn't high enough to follow along with a game in my head. So, we turned to you."

"Don't be mad at her, Hikaru. I just wanted to know more about your life before I met you."

Stirring his noodles quickly, Hikaru frowned. "But I don't know much about you from before we met, either."

"Ah, well, I was a boring little runt. You seem like you were much more interesting." Akira said as he picked at a piece of egg on top of his katsudon.

"Yeah, well, I had too much energy for my own good. At least, that's what my mom said. I was really always getting into something. I climbed into a tree once to try to grab a beehive because I thought I could get some honey. But then I couldn't figure out how to climb down, so I got stung by a bunch of bees."

Akari held a hand over her mouth as she laughed and swallowed her mouthful of soba. "I'd forgotten all about that. You were in the hospital for a week after you finally just jumped out of the tree into a bush."

Hikaru stood up and pulled his shirt up on his left side and turned to show it to Akira. He pointed to a faint white line. "If you ever noticed that scar before, that's what it's from."

"I have a scar, too," Akira said and turned his arm over to show his flattened elbow. "You can only see it when my arm is flat like this. But that's what happened when I tried to learn to ride a bicycle."

"But then you got good at it like everything else you do, right?" Hikaru slurped up a mouthful of noodles.

Akira coughed and looked back at his food. "Not so much, no. I still can't ride a bicycle."

"What?" Ramen fell out of Hikaru's mouth back into his bowl. "You don't know how to ride a bike?"

"It's not an essential life skill, Hikaru."

Akari pointed between them with her chopsticks. "I'm sure he could manage if you rode a tandem bike."

Hikaru stuck out his tongue at her. "Hmph. Maybe." He spooned up a mouthful of broth and slurped it down quickly. "Did you look in the bag yet?"

Akari shook her head and opened up the bag she'd put on the table beside her. "What's this?" Her face lit up as she pulled out the duck and held it in front of her as she stroked the tuft of fluff on top of its head. "It's so cute!"

With a shrug, Hikaru looked back to his ramen. "I figured it could work for a boy or a girl."

Akira reached across the table and stroked the duck's tail. "That is cute."

"You say it like I have no taste!"

Akira shrugged. "You said it; not me."

"Oh, eat your noodles."

Akari held up a single noodle with her chopsticks. "Don't you want to try mine?" The look on Hikaru's face apparently did the talking for him. "Okay, okay! No soba for you. Ever."

Hikaru took the noodle from her with his own chopsticks and stuck it in his mouth and chewed for a moment before looking up at her with a frown. "Better than the last time you made me eat soba, but not as good as my ramen." He took another large mouthful of ramen and smiled as he ate.

"You are? Oh, that's great. Well, we'll see you tonight. Goodbye."

Hikaru glanced up. "Who are we seeing tonight?"

Akira sat down on the couch next to Hikaru. "My parents. They're about to get on a plane."

"What?!" Hikaru slid forward on the couch so he could turn to Akira. "And they didn't bother to call you until now?"

"It seems they each thought the other had called to let me know. But it's okay. They... They needed to find out sometime, right?"

Hikaru buried his hands in his hair and groaned. "Well, yeah, but... I would have liked more notice!"

Akari chose that moment to walk into the room holding a glass of water. "Hey. What's up?"

"My parents are coming in to town tonight," Akira said.

"Oh." Akari took a sip of water. "Should Hikaru and I go stay at his house tonight, then?"

"No!" Hikaru stood up. "Like Akira said, they needed to find out sometime."

Akari nodded. "Well, I'm going to take my water back to my room and keep studying. Let me know if you need me." She turned on her heel and walked slowly away. She paused and turned back partially to say, "Actually, I think I might take a little nap first. Pregnancy is... exhausting."

Hikaru reached out a hand toward her, but dropped it and then sat back down on the couch next to Akira. "How do you think they're going to take it?"

"I don't know." Akira slid his feet out of his house slippers and pulled them up on the edge of the couch so that his arms could wrap around his knees. "After everything else, I feel like Mother will be surprised, but okay, and Father... I have no idea."

The day passed slowly from that point on until evening came even though Hikaru left for a few hours to teach go to a young boy he'd only recently started tutoring. Hikaru had just taken the dishes into the kitchen later that night after dinner when Akira came into the room and said, "I've just had a call from Mother. They'll be here in a few minutes."

Hikaru took a deep breath. "Okay. Should we grab Akari and just get this over with right away?"

"I don't think it would be the worst idea."

Akari let out a single bright note of laughter as she walked into the room. "Already here and ready for the firing squad."

"I don't think it will be that bad," Akira said.

She shrugged. "I figure that it's best to be prepared for the worst. I repacked my suitcase just in case."

"Akari..." Hikaru took the few steps required to reach her and wrapped her in his arms. "I will punch Akira's dad in the face if I have to."

Akira frowned. "You will do no such thing."

Hikaru nodded solemnly at Akira. "You're right. Of course not." He turned back to Akari and whispered in her ear. "But I totally will if he needs it."

Akari giggled. "I assume they'll be coming in the front. Let's go sit down, then. There's no point in hiding in the kitchen." She led the way and Akira and Hikaru were close on her heels.

Hikaru sprawled on the couch immediately and Akari and Akira took seats on either side of him. It didn't take too long before Hikaru started to squirm. "Where are they?"

"They'll be here soon," Akira said.

Hikaru frowned. "I just hate sitting here waiting to be judged."

Akira returned Hikaru's expression in kind. "Look, things have gone rather well for you considering the circumstances."

Hikaru huffed as he sat forward. "Yes, I know. I got off easy. Everyone took it pretty okay that I was dating you and my parents are actually kind of cool that I knocked up my best friend and then got her to basically move in with me and my boyfriend when her parents were complete dicks!"

"Akira, is that true?"

Hikaru's mouth hung open as he turned toward the door. "Touya-san..."

Akari clutched Hikaru's arm as Akira stood up. "Well, that wasn't how we'd intended to tell you."

Kouyou stepped out of the entryway and toward the three of them on the couch. "Do you mean that Shindou-san hasn't been faithful to you?"

Akira shook his head. "That's... not exactly the case here."

Akiko followed her husband. "Then what is the case?"

With a deep breath, Akira gestured toward the open seats. "Come sit down and we'll tell you."

When they were seated, and Akira was sitting down again, Hikaru looked to Akira and then started the explanation. "Well, first, this is my friend Fujisaki Akari."

She bowed her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"So, um, Akari's boyfriend dumped her because she wasn't ready to have sex with him and she asked me to be her first because, well, she trusts me, I guess? Anyway, I talked to Akira about it and he told me to do it. We, uh, used protection and everything and Akari was even told that she'd never be able to have children because of, um, things? But somehow she got pregnant anyway and when she wouldn't have an abortion, her parents kicked her out."

Akira cleared his throat. "I encouraged him to do it."

Kouyou shook his head. "I can't understand why you would do that."

Silence filled the room before Akira seemed to find his words. "I... Hikaru... I can't be everything for Hikaru like he is for me. I only like boys. He likes, well, both. I wanted to make sure that he would happily come back to me no matter what."

Hikaru reached out and took Akira's hand. "And I did."

Akari trembled as she sat forward. "And then I found out I was pregnant. But this may be my only chance to ever have a child, so I'm taking it." Her eyes started to water, but then Hikaru grabbed on to her hand, too, and she smiled.

"We're just taking responsibility for our actions," Hikaru said, strengthening his grip on the two hands he held.

Akiko nodded and grasped Kouyou's hand and squeezed it firmly. "I understand." She laughed softly. "I, too, became pregnant out of wedlock. Your father and I were going to have the baby, but I had a miscarriage just after our honeymoon on New Year's Day. We didn't tell anyone."

Akira said softly, "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

She wiped delicately along one eye. "It isn't a parent's duty to burden their child, Akira-san. That was several years before you were born."

Akari unconsciously rubbed her stomach. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"It was a long time ago. It was very sad then, but time does such a remarkable job of healing wounds."

Hikaru licked his lips. "I'm sorry. About that, and about all of this."

Kouyou shook his head. "I don't feel very comfortable with this."

Akiko shook her head. "There isn't much for comfort there, that's true, but you could look at is as having a grandchild. I assume you don't intend to marry, oh, was it Fujisaki-chan?"

Akari nodded. "No. I don't intend to take Hikaru away from Akira."

"And your parents have kicked you out? How horrible. I'm glad that Akira-san has offered you a place here. Is there anything that can be done to make you more comfortable?"

Hikaru laughed and clutched at the hands he held even more tightly. "Thank you."

Akiko smiled. "Kouyou and I have long tried to be parents who do what is best for their child, regardless of our own happiness. It is a comforting thing to see others attempting to do the same. Fujisaki-chan, how far along are you?"

Akari rubbed her stomach again. "Almost twelve weeks now. I have a doctor's appointment at Aiiku in a few days."

"Oh, Hikaru-san, will you be going with her?"

Hikaru shook his head. "No. I've got a game that day."

Akiko smiled. "Well, I suppose I could go with you if you'd like."

Akari coughed. "That's not necessary. I'll be fine on my own."

"It wouldn't be any trouble. Besides, that will be your first real appointment, right? There are all kinds of things you have to do then and it can be very emotional. And maybe afterward we can go out for tea and get better acquainted?"

"I... I think I'd like that," Akari said softly. "I believe I have all of my paperwork in order, but you're right that I have no idea what I'm doing. I've talked to Hikaru's mother a little, but not very recently."

"Hmm, perhaps I'll give her a call? What would you say to trying to arrange a little, oh, girl's day out? We can go shopping and eat cake and all of the other things the boys don't like to do."

Hikaru laughed. "Hey, I like cake!"

"Shh, Hikaru-kun." Akiko covered her mouth as she laughed. "Now, Fujisaki-chan, because I know that my husband will want to know, do you play go?"

"A little," she said. "I was in the go club with Hikaru when he was in middle school, and I've kept up with playing somewhat, but I'm nowhere near their level."

Akira piped up, "She's maybe a 15-kyu?"

Kouyou nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose that's acceptable. Perhaps we could play a game later."

Akiko swatted his arm. "No. You'll only frighten her. Even I thought to myself, 'Who is this horrible man?' the first time I saw you across a go ban. No, no. You can watch her play Akira-kun or Hikaru-kun if you must observe her skills for yourself."

Hikaru stuck out his tongue at Akari. "I should make you play Akira since you know my go better."

Akira bowed his head lightly. "I would be honored."

Kouyou stood. "Then, let's go."

Akiko laughed. "Hikaru-san, you go with them and I'll bring in tea for us all."

Akari leaned close to Hikaru. "Is this what you feel when you play an exhibition match?"

He let go of both her and Akira and then patted her shoulder. "Well, maybe not quite the same."

Akari slid her shoes on next to Akiko. "Okay, Hikaru, we're going now. I'll see you for dinner though, okay? Have a good game!"

Hikaru laughed. "Thanks, Akari. Oh! Tell my mom 'hi', okay?"

"You could call her, you know."

"Akari! I talked to her for an hour last night. I'm just being polite."

"You? Polite? Where is the Shindou Hikaru that I've known for so long?"

"Ha! Get out of here before I tell Touya-Meijin that you want a game." Hikaru waved as Akari and Akiko left and then turned back as he heard Akira enter the room. "Oh, hey."

Akira smiled. "Hello. Are you ready to go?"

"Ready for a game? Always!"

Hikaru was in good spirits as they traveled to the Ki-in for their games and that continued through the first half of the game and even lunch. But his opponent, Kadowaki, was taking longer and longer to play his hands as the game went on, so Hikaru's mind started to wander. He remembered most of what he'd read about what the first doctor's appointment was supposed to entail. The mother's weight and vitals would be measured, there would be an ultrasound and... blood tests? Akari hated needles. He glanced down at the board again and felt his eyes roll a little. All that time spent deliberating and all Kadowaki had come up with was a hane? Hikaru slapped down another stone almost immediately and tried to put more of his focus on the game, but he wasn't going to lose at this rate.

After Kadowaki finally resigned, Hikaru had retreated to the vending machine and gone through three cans of juice before Akira finally joined him. "You're nervous, aren't you?"

Hikaru shrugged and tossed the latest can into the recycling bin. "I just can't help but wonder whether something could be wrong."

Akira touched Hikaru's arm lightly. "If there is, they'll find out. And both of our mothers are with Akari-chan right now, and they would know better than us what to say."

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah. Um, want to walk back to your place? Nervous energy, you know."

"Of course. Whatever you need."

By the time they reached Akira's home, each man had taken off his jacket. Akira was holding his loosely at his side and Hikaru was walking with his hanging over one shoulder. "Should I have insisted on going somehow?" Hikaru asked as he toyed with the cuff of one jacket sleeve.

Akira shrugged. "I don't know. You're the biological father, but how much more than that are you going to end up being?"

Hikaru stared off into the distance. "Remember being a kid and thinking that life would be easy when you grew up and no one was telling you what to do anymore?"

"Yeah?"

Hikaru sighed. "I could really use someone telling me what to do right now."

Akira let out a huff of agreement. "I admire Akari for being so firm in her convictions on this. I do wonder, though, if her feelings will begin to waver once the situation becomes more obvious."

"Huh?" Hikaru stopped in his tracks and looked at Akira with his head cocked to one side. "What do you- Oh, god. That's right. She's gonna be huge and people are going to ask questions and I can't ask her to keep things a secret because, well, because I don't really need to be ashamed... Do I?"

Akira shrugged and kept walking, only replying once Hikaru had started to keep pace next to him again. "You didn't do anything that normal people don't do. The particulars of our circumstances may be a bit unusual, but you shouldn't have any shame about what happened. Having sex with someone you love, even if it's maybe not quite that kind of love, isn't wrong and wanting to keep a baby that seems like a miracle isn't wrong and letting yourself get wrapped up in the situation isn't wrong either."

Hikaru put an arm around Akira's shoulders casually. "You didn't do anything wrong either. In fact, quite the opposite. Do you know how much more I respect you now?"

Akira shivered and edged minutely closer to Hikaru. "Let's hurry. I really want to be kissing you right now."

Hikaru nodded and they quickened their pace.

By the time Akari, Akiko and Mitsuko came walking in, Hikaru had managed to calm down considerably (a long, leisurely game of go had done wonders, as had the making out). "Ah! How was it?" Hikaru asked as he scrambled up from the couch.

Akari paused in taking off her shoes to touch her stomach and then looked up at Hikaru. "I heard the heartbeat."

Hikaru smiled, suddenly awestruck. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Akari dug into her purse and pulled out a black and white picture and handed it to Hikaru as he reached her. "Look. It's the ultrasound picture. The baby isn't very big yet, maybe about ten centimeters. Look, you can see the face!"

Hikaru grasped the picture and took a moment to try to puzzle out what he was seeing. Along the top and bottom of the print-out were numbers and Akari's name and the date, and then a grainy image set within a third of a circle or so with a white blob in the middle of a dark circle shaded just enough to make out an arm and a leg and a tiny face. "That's... that's our baby?"

Akira joined them. "It's amazing what the human body can do, isn't it?"

Akiko waved her son away from the entryway. "Akira-san, Hikaru-san, let these three tired ladies in to sit down. We've shopped until we're ready to drop!"

Hikaru tentatively handed back the ultrasound picture and then stepped back. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he took in all of the bags that Akiko and Mitsuko were carrying. "What did you buy? Everything?"

Mitsuko charged past her son and put her bags down on the coffee table. "Well, Akari-chan didn't have any maternity clothes. Or the kind of comfortable shoes she should be wearing. We didn't go too crazy. There are also books in here and some snacks for when Akari-chan is at school and isn't able to eat like she should."

Hikaru hugged his mother tightly. "Thank you for looking after Akari." He turned to Akiko and bowed his head. "Thank you, too."

Akiko giggled. "Hikaru-san, I've lived in a man's world for so long now with only Kouyou and Akira-san around that I'm the one being indulged here. It's no fun to go shopping alone, and Fujisaki-chan is a wonderful sport."

Akari waved a hand at Akiko. "I told you that you can call me Akari."

"Oh, fine." Akiko turned to Mitsuko. "Would you care to help me put those in Akari-chan's room?"

Akira stepped in and picked up most of the bags. "I'll help."

Mitsuko smirked and took several bags from Akiko's hands as well as the last two from the table. "Lead the way."

As they left the room, Akari sat down on the couch and sighed. "I am so tired."

Hikaru sat next to her. "Was everything okay?"

Akari nodded thoughtfully. "Surprisingly? Yes. Takeuchi-sensei seemed like a very capable doctor and all of my tests went fine. Your mother held my hand when they had to draw my blood, but then we went out to lunch and went shopping and looked at baby clothes... It's a little overwhelming, but it's getting exciting. I wish my own mother could be this excited, but we ended up talking about that too. Did you know that your mother tried to make a plea to my mother?"

"Mom did?"

"She said she went over there the day after I left and tried to tell my mother that she would regret her decision and she's seen her a few times since then and my mother won't even talk to your mother." She shook her head sadly. "I always thought they were such good friends, but it turns out that they were more acquaintances just for our sakes."

Hikaru reached over and grabbed Akari's knee and squeezed it. "Mothers, huh?"

Akari laughed. "Do you think I'll make a good mother?"

"As long as you try to be a good mother, I think you will be. And of the three examples you have to look at, I think two of them are pretty awesome. I'm sorry your mom is being kind of stupid."

"Hikaru!"

"Well, she is! You're not some tramped-up high school floozy who was getting paid to date an old man or something. You had sex one time with someone you have known for most of your life. You didn't even ask her for any help before she just went crazy."

"Still," Akari said, "no one wants to hear those things about their mother."

Hikaru pulled his hand back. "Not even if they're the truth?"

Akari choked on a sudden sob. "Especially not then."

Hikaru put an arm around her and let her lean against his shoulder. "You aren't your mother, Akari. You just need to remind yourself that this is a good thing."

She nodded and turned her face more toward his chest. "Thank you for not abandoning me."

"Like I would ever." He kissed the top of her head. "Hey, want to watch some TV with me?"

"Yeah, okay."

And that was how Akira, Akiko and Mitsuko found them several minutes later, with Akari curled up at Hikaru's side and laughing at a poorly-done impression on a variety show and Hikaru ruffling her hair as he laughed.

"Akari!" Hikaru knocked on the door of her room. "Are you still sleeping?"

She opened the door a long moment later, yawning, with her hair mussed and eyes bleary. "What is it?"

"My mom is here to take you to your doctor's appointment."

Akari's eyes widened even as she yawned again. "Already? I thought that was next week!" She looked up as she thought. "Oh, man, yeah. She's right. Tell her I'll be ready in a minute!"

Hikaru laughed as the door closed and went back out to the living room where his mother sat quietly on the couch. "So, looks like she'll be just a few more minutes."

Mitsuko laughed. "I could hear her from here. Is her forgetfulness starting this early? Poor girl."

Sitting down, Hikaru smiled at his mother. "Do you miss me being at home?"

"Well, of course!" Mitsuko smiled back and reached over to grasp Hikaru's hand for a moment. "Now, to be honest, I'd been expecting you to move out for a while. You were making your own money, you didn't spend much time at home anyway... Your father has plans for your bedroom once you're gone, you know."

"He would! There's better ventilation in there."

"It was still out of nowhere that you grew up, though. One day, you were my little boy. The next, you're a grown man. So, yes, I miss getting to see you rush past me in the mornings and I miss making dinner for you, but I'm also happy that you're finding your place in life. You know that I'm still always there for you, though, right?"

Hikaru nodded. "There in the beginning, I kept thinking that I'd only be here for a few nights at the most. But it's been just over two months now, huh?"

"It has. Are you thinking of making this something more permanent?"

"I don't know yet. There really is just so much that's still all up in the air. I couldn't just leave Akari here with Akira, you know? But I don't think I'm ready to say that I don't live at home anymore."

Mitsuko squeezed her son's hand. "And you don't have to. But I did go in to dust your room yesterday since no one has been in there for a while. Your go set had a thick layer of dust on it."

Hikaru shook his head softly. "Oh, man. I mean, that's not the first time that's happened, but it still kind of shocks me."

"Would you be opposed to your father moving some of his completed models in there?"

"Did he get that train done?"

She laughed and let go of his hand. "Almost. He's doing multiple cars for this one."

"Tell him that I'll come by and see it sometime soon, okay? And that I love him."

"So that's a yes?"

"Yeah. Just... Don't put anything on my bed yet. I still want to be able to hold on to the idea that I can come home if I need to."

"We'd make room for you somehow, I think," Mitsuko said with a grin. "Oh, here's Akari-chan!"

Akari bowed her head. "I'm so sorry! I had an awful time getting to sleep last night and I guess I slept right through the alarm on my phone."

"It's okay! We still have plenty of time. But you'll need to get used to not sleeping much. Between having to get up in the middle of the night and being uncomfortable in every position you get into, and then an infant! Well, it's a good thing you're young." Mitsuko waved at Hikaru. "We'll be off now. Don't wait up!"

Hikaru smiled brightly. "See you later!"

Akari walked through the door weeks later, crying softly. Hikaru sat up from where he'd been trying to take a nap on the couch after a long day of playing shidougo. "Akari? What's wrong?"

She wiped her eyes. "It's nothing, really. Just pregnancy hormones."

"Which don't cause you to cry about nothing. Did you see a sad commercial on TV again?"

Akari shook her head and moved to the couch. Hikaru sat up to give her room. "Well, I'm starting to show a little bit, you know? But I really wanted to wear this shirt today, so I went to school in it and at the end of the day, I overheard one of my friends saying I was getting fat and looked horrible and I got mad and confronted her about it."

"Seriously? Wow. That was stupid of her. You still look great!"

"Well, she didn't know I was pregnant then." Akari paused. "She does now. And so does, well, probably most of campus."

Hikaru sighed. "I take it you screamed at her?"

"No girl likes to be called fat, Hikaru. I've got a perfectly valid reason for putting on some weight."

"At no point did I say that you didn't. You're pregnant. You can put on as much weight as you want!" At Akari's look, he backtracked. "Well, as much as the doctor's say that you can, anyway." He cleared his throat. "Did anyone say anything to you after that?"

"No." Akari leaned back against the couch again. "I'm not looking forward to school on Monday, though."

"Hey, um, Akira and I were going to go to the Ki-in on Monday to watch a special match. Do you want to skip school and come with us?"

"What? No."

"Akari, you only have like another two weeks before the end of the semester and you haven't missed a single day yet. You spend hours every day studying and doing homework. I think you're starting to stress yourself out a little."

"And you think going with you and Akira to watch people I don't know play go is going to help me out?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I didn't really mean it like that. Just, well, you need to get away from your world for a little while."

She crossed her arms over her stomach. "And what will you say if they figure out that I'm pregnant?"

"That it's none of their business." Hikaru laughed. "Come on into the kitchen. I picked up some of your favorite ice cream on the way home."

Akari snorted. "Which just happens to also be your favorite."

He bumped her shoulder with his own and then helped her stand. "Can I help it that you have remarkably good taste sometimes?"

She smiled, then raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes?"

"Okay, almost all of the time."

"What?!"

"All of the time! Absolutely all of the time!"

Akari strode past him toward the kitchen. "That's better."

On Monday, Akari joined them on the train toward the Ki-in. "I feel so nervous," she said as she sat in an open seat by the door.

Akira nodded. "I can understand. I can't believe he talked you into skipping school."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "It's one day. No big deal. It's not like I told her not to go back."

Akira bowed his head to Akari. "I'm sorry he's such an irresponsible person."

Hikaru frowned and Akari giggled. "He's not so bad, Akira-kun. And I think I needed this, anyway. I've spent the last few months only going to school and back to your house. It isn't a bad life, but it isn't exciting at all. Perhaps going to the Ki-in with you can be a compromise between boring and fun."

"Well, I suppose that's one way to put it," Hikaru said. "Listen, we don't exactly get a whole lot of pretty girls at the Ki-in, or really many girls at all, so you're probably going to have socially awkward people trying to flirt with you. So, ignore them or enjoy the flattery or whatever makes you happy, but if they go too far? Let me know and I will pummel them."

"Pummel?" Akira snorted.

"Hey!" Hikaru stuck his tongue out at Akira. "I'm sorry, is there someone at the Ki-in that you think I couldn't take in a fight?"

"No. Just wondering why you're so quick to jump right into a physical battle when they are go players and would be much more devastated to be beaten on a go ban." Akira turned back to Akari. "I, at least, could defend your honor that way."

"I could totally do that!" Hikaru steadied himself against a pole. "You're not better than me anymore, you know."

Akira scowled, but the expression dropped off of his face quickly. "I'm not, am I?" He laughed. "You don't think I'm going to let you surpass me just because you've finally caught up, do you?"

Hikaru smirked. "Well, you won't let me, so I'll just have to make it happen anyway."

Akari shook her head. "You boys are so silly. Does it matter who's better as long as you both win against other people?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

Hikaru snorted. "Okay, maybe not that much. But we were rivals long before we were anything else. It's hard to give that up."

"And we don't have to give it up. But, we could maybe tone it down. Remember how shocked your friend Waya-san was to discover that we were dating?"

"He shouldn't have been that shocked! He'd seen the picture of you that I kept in my wallet!" Hikaru scowled.

Akari giggled. "I remember that picture. Mitani-kun had Kaneko ask me about it after he saw you paying at NcDonald's one day."

"He did?" Hikaru shook his head. "He could have just asked me himself. I wouldn't have hidden it from him."

"It seems he thought you got into go for Akira-kun because he was your long lost half-brother."

"What?" Hikaru looked thoughtfully at Akira for a long moment. "But we look nothing alike. Although, Mitani likes to jump to weird conclusions, I swear. If we'd done purikura together and I'd drawn little hearts all around Akira, Mitani would have thought I'd given you one of my kidneys or something. Or possibly that you bought me ramen."

Akira pinched Hikaru's arm gently. "Is that all it takes to get your love? A bowl of ramen?"

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "No. I'm like a punch card. You have to buy me ten bowls of ramen in order to get free love."

Akari laughed hard enough that she had to hunch over and bury her face in her hands to keep from disturbing the other passengers. She finally came up a moment later, gasping for breath. "Oh, Hikaru. Only you. Just... only you."

Hikaru held out his hand and helped her up as the train pulled to a halt at their station. "I think that means the only people who qualify are you and Akira. Well, and my parents."

Akira wrinkled his nose and stepped off the train before them. "And Isumi-kun."

Hikaru thought for a long moment. "I had to win most of those from him, you know, so it doesn't count." He pulled Akari through the doorway with him.

"You bet on games for lunch?" Akari said as she shook her hand loose from Hikaru's and smoothed down her shirt.

"Well, I used to. Isumi and Waya and I would head to go salons all over town and challenge a bunch of people in handicapped games and whoever won the least amount of games had to pay. It usually ended in a tie because we'd all win, but I'm the only one who never lost."

"Never?" Akira said over his shoulder as he led the way onto the street.

"Nope. Never. I mean, we never ran into other pros except Mashiba this one time, but he was pretty easy to beat because we decided that game wouldn't be handicapped since we're both pros. But when you're playing 3-stone against an amateur, no matter how good they are, it's not really a problem for me to win. We kind of stopped because we kept trying to one-up each other about who could win against the biggest handicap and then I beat some guy at, like, 20-stone or something ridiculous like that and Waya and Isumi both lost their games and we overheard some people talking about how my opponent was the best one." Hikaru shrugged. "We kept saying there were other reasons we weren't doing that again, but I really think it's because they couldn't keep up."

Akari sighed. "You have such an ego."

"What?" Hikaru scowled at her, but rushed to the door of the Ki-in to hold it open for her all the same. "I do not!"

"Don't you think he does, Akira-kun?" Akari looked to Akira expectantly whose eyes widened just as Akari ran into someone and fell to the ground.

Hikaru was at her side almost immediately. "Akari! Are you okay?"

She laughed and waved him off. "Hikaru, I'm fine."

"And the baby?"

"I'm so sorry!" Hikaru looked up to see Honda Toshinori bowing to Akari and holding out a large hand to help her stand up. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She gladly took his hand and stood.

"Akari..." Hikaru whispered softly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She touched her stomach. "I didn't fall that hard Hikaru. The baby is fine."

Toshinori bowed his head again. "Shindou-kun, I'm sorry for knocking down your... girlfriend?"

"What? No! She's not my girlfriend." Hikaru finally pulled himself up from the ground and frowned. "She's just a good friend of mine."

"What guy would let his pregnant girlfriend come out with another guy, though?" Toshinori finally seemed to notice Akira standing with them. "Oh, then is she your-" He stopped himself at the look Akira was giving him suddenly.

"I don't have a boyfriend," Akari said firmly. "If you'll excuse us, though, Hikaru and Akira-kun are taking me to see a match."

Honda pointed to himself. "Did you guys come to see my match?"

Hikaru grinned. "Yeah. You're playing Kurata, right? It sounded like a good match-up."

Toshinori shrugged, but a smile snuck onto his face. "That makes me much more confident about the game I'll play today." He turned back to Akari. "Once again, I'm sorry for knocking you over. I'll, uh, try to give you a good match to watch, okay?" He turned and walked quickly through the lobby of the Ki-in.

Akira cocked his head to one side. "Wasn't he just heading out the door?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I don't think any of us were paying enough attention to see, least of all Akari. How do you bump into someone that tall?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. So, who was that?"

"Oh! I guess we didn't do introductions, huh. That's Honda Toshinori. I was an insei with him. He became a pro a few years after me, but he's actually getting pretty good. He's not as into go as Akira and I are, but maybe that's not the worst thing."

"He's kind of cute, don't you think?"

"Honda?" Hikaru made a face. "Akari!"

She giggled softly. "What? You like boys. Well, at least most of the time. I like boys. We should be able to talk about that."

"He's not my type," Hikaru said. "I like smaller lips." Akira licked his lips self-consciously.

She stuck out her tongue at Hikaru. "Well, my type of boy tends to have a big mouth anyway. And I like his freckles." She grinned impishly. "I wonder where else he has them."

"It only took one time with me for you to become obsessed, I see."

Akari rolled her eyes and fell into step beside Hikaru and Akira as they headed toward the viewing area. "Hikaru, I'm pretty sure everyone between the ages of 12 and 80 are all obsessed with sex. But there's really no point in me pretending to be some pillar of maidenly virtue anymore."

Hikaru's face fell. "I was just trying to be funny. Sorry."

"It's okay. If I were to go out looking for a father for my baby, I don't think I could have done better than what happened naturally, and under the circumstances... Well, I'm just glad it was you."

"I am-" Hikaru cleared his through. "Ogata."

Ogata Seiji cleared his throat and looked the trio over carefully. "So, Shindou-san got his girlfriend pregnant. I wonder what the old man will have to say about this in light of how wonderful he thinks you are."

"Ogata-san! No!" Akira stepped in front of the older man with his hands clenched at his sides. "It wouldn't be right."

"Right?" Seiji laughed. "What isn't right is that I lost 10,000 yen on your last match against this delinquent."

Akira stood proudly. "It was still a good game. He won by half a moku. If I was satisfied by the match, then maybe you should be, too."

Seiji shook his head. "Hn." He turned and walked away and Akira started to take off after him, but Akari stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Akira-kun. If it's my honor you're trying to defend here, there isn't a point. We've been here all of five minutes and two people know because we've been spending so much time together at your house that we're not used to hiding anything. So, I'll see myself out and the two of you can go watch the game together and I'll see about making something tasty for dinner, okay?" She waved and started to walk off, but Hikaru caught her arm by putting his through it.

He turned her back around and started to cover ground again. "Nope. You're right. They're probably going to find out anyway, so we might as well just tell 'em."

Akira caught up with them quickly. "Everything?"

Hikaru paused and looped his other arm around Akira's. "If they ask, I guess so."

They walked into the viewing room arm-in-arm which made things interesting as Hikaru refused to let go. Akari ended up giggling loudly as Hikaru manuevered her through the door and followed right behind with Akira trying to close the door behind him while Hikaru jerked him forward.

Waya Yoshitaka and Isumi Shinichirou were already sitting at a go ban. "Shindou-" Yoshitaka shook his head. "What the heck are you doing?"

Hikaru shrugged. "Having fun."

Shinichirou smiled. "I can see that. And who's your friend?"

Hikaru looked around the room for a long moment at his friends and several older players and even Morishita-sensei and then Seiji and Kuwabara Honinbou who walked in the door as Hikaru paused. He swallowed and said quickly, "Guys, this is Fujisaki Akari: the mother of my unborn child."

Yoshitaka was the first to comment. "What? But I thought you and Akira-" Shinichirou slapped a hand over his friend's mouth.

Hikaru looked over at Akira and smiled. "That hasn't changed."

Yoshitaka ripped Shinichirou's hand off his mouth. "What the hell do you mean?"

Akira bowed his head. "It's a bit of a long story that we'll be happy to tell you later. For now, though, let's all be respectful of the Ki-in and the players and watch the game that should be starting in a moment."

Hikaru dragged Akira and Akari to an empty go ban and let go of them to grab an extra chair and place it along one side of the board. He helped Akari sit down and then took a seat opposite Akira and opened one of the go ke. He wrinkled his nose and shoved it over to Akira while grabbing the other. "I'll take white for this."

Akira took the proferred go ke and opened it as he turned to face Akari. "If at any point you get confused about what's going on, just ask. You've got a fairly good grasp on the basics, but there are moves that are a little more difficult to understand."

Akari smiled. "Like the ones that Hikaru makes that seem simple enough until 10 hands later when you're not sure if you want to resign or punch him in the face?"

Akira laughed. "Like those exactly."

"You just wish you could play like I do." Hikaru looked up at the screen. "Shh! They're starting."

There was something approaching silence but never quite getting there throughout the entirety of the game. Hikaru judged the game to be an even closer match-up than he'd initially anticipated and found himself alternately smiling at a deft tetsuji or frowning at a mid-game kakashi. Hardly anyone in the room spoke up to suggest alternate moves, though they could be heard as gentle murmurs echoing off the walls, and their eyes did stray to watch the trio. Akari excused herself twice to go to the bathroom, though, which also drew extra attention.

At one point toward the end, Hikaru sat back in his chair and pointed to an area of the board. "He's got it locked in now. Kurata can't get out of this trap without sacrificing at least 2 stones, and that's all Honda needs."

Akari leaned in a little further and pointed to the intersection at 13-7. "Couldn't he connect here and minimize the damage? That would at least let him live long enough to bring it into the endgame, right?"

"Akari-chan, I think maybe Hikaru has rubbed off on you. That would be a very risky move."

She shrugged. "If you're losing, isn't that the time to make risky moves?"

Hikaru looked anxiously at the screen. "He's not going to, though. He's played a really clean game so far. They both have. They're not going to draw it out. Resignation is coming- There." He shook his head. "13-8 would have been where I would have played, but you are getting tons better."

She flushed. "When Akira-kun's parents were in town, his father taught me for a little while that day I didn't have school."

"You played teaching games with the former Meijin? That's awesome." Shinichirou pulled his chair over and sat next to them.

Hikaru laughed. "Hey, she used to get teaching games from me!" He yelped as he felt someone, probably Akari herself, kick him in his shin. "Okay, I'd give her a large handicap and try to fight my way out."

Akira raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, as much as I find my father a wonderful teacher, Akari-chan had to have enough talent to begin with for my father to be able to do something with it. So, Akari-chan, congratulations on that."

She giggled. "I have fun with go. It can't fill up every piece of me like it does with both of you, but it does help me put some order to my thoughts and it's the thing that has kept Hikaru as one of my closest friends."

"Pretty darn close," Yoshitaka said as he pulled a chair over between Hikaru and Shinichirou and sat backward on it and leaned over the back.

"Waya!" Hikaru punched Yoshitaka's shoulder as Akari blushed. He looked up and saw Seiji and Kuwabara Honinbou walk over. "Oh, great."

Kuwabara chortled as he leaned on the back of Hikaru's chair. "Shindou-kun, you can't come in here yelling about the mother of your unborn child and expect people not to be curious."

"Be curious all you want. Just be curious somewhere else." Hikaru stood up and grabbed Akari's arm. "Come on. Let's go."

Seiji glared at him. "I wasn't actually going to tell him."

"Seriously?" Hikaru groaned. "You can't say things like 'I'm going to tell him!' if you aren't serious. That's not cool."

After clearing his throat, Seiji bowed his head deeply. "I apologize."

Akira stood up and shook his head as Seiji straightened. "An apology? It's one thing to force someone's hand in a game, Ogata-san, but quite another in real life. So what? You want to know the intimate details about how Hikaru went from her bed to mine and I encouraged it? About how we have a lovely little domestic paradise going on at my house right now? About how Hikaru won't be marrying her because he is mine and I won't even let her have him? Well, there. Now you know enough. It isn't simple or easy, but we're dealing with it and I will be damned before I let a bunch of old men make my decisions for me."

Hikaru pulled Akira into a tight hug and turned to Seiji and Kuwabara. "I knew it was going to get out at some point and I knew you were all going to judge me on it, but I don't care. Akari is my best friend and Akira is, like, the love of my life. They're not the choices everyone would make, but when do I ever do what everyone else does?"

Kuwabara laughed heartily. "My boy, no one has yet questioned your choices yet. But it's good to know that both of you are already so keen on defending this girl. I can see this working out quite nicely." He raised an eyebrow at Seiji. "Come on. Let's go get some sake and discuss the game."

Seiji frowned. "Shindou-san, just win your next game, would you?"

"Another bet?" Hikaru sneered.

"Trying to recoup my losses. You'll play Akira-kun in the Gosei preliminaries soon, too, right?" He bowed his head again, but this time toward Akari. "My apologies to you also, Miss, for causing you any distress." He turned sharply and led the way from the room as the trio sat back down.

Yoshitaka let out a huff of breath. "Wow."

"I'll admit to further curiousity, but I don't expect it to be satisfied," Shinichirou said. "No, it doesn't deserve to be satisfied."

Hikaru started to laugh, but stopped and looked up as the door opened. "Oh, hey! Honda, that was a great game. Congratulations on your win!"

Toshinori smiled. "Thank you. Um, I heard a little about the commotion that was happening in here. Is everything okay?"

Akira sighed. "Just everyone judging us before we were prepared for it."

Yoshitaka snorted. "Everyone was judging you already. It's just that now they know you're more than just the prodigal son of Touya Meijin."

Akira's eyes flashed for a moment, but he calmed. "Well, anything to get out of his shadow, I suppose."

Hikaru smiled as he started putting away the stones on the go ban. "Go is so weird if you think about it. Black goes first. It's like the shadow precedes the light." He held up a white stone between his fingers and looked at Akira beyond it.

Akari stood up again. "You know, instead of seven people crowding around a single go ban, why don't we go grab something to eat? I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving. Although, I think I'll use the restroom once more before we go." She stood and gestured toward the doorway. "Meet me out there?"

Hikaru nodded and looked around as Akari left the room. "Where do we want to go?"

Yoshitaka shrugged. "The bar down the street?"

Shinichirou shook his head. "Yes, let's expose a pregnant woman to alcohol and lots of cigarette smoke."

"Sushi, then?"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow at him. "Not so much of that, either."

"I don't know what pregnant ladies can and can't have. I wasn't thinking!"

Toshinori slid into Akari's abandoned seat. "Well, that's nothing new." He smiled at Yoshitaka's outrage. "There's a Korean BBQ place a few blocks away that isn't bad."

Hikaru grinned. "As long as it's not soba. Her one constant craving and it's the one thing I just really don't like."

"Karmic punishment," Toshinori said lightly. He stood back up. "Come on. She'll be waiting."

Hikaru was the one who closed the door behind them. He leaned against it for just a moment and looked at the group of people walking toward the bathroom who at least weren't telling him he was a horrible person. It counted for something, he thought. Really, it counted for a lot.

The atmosphere had been tense in the beginning at the restaurant. They'd held off on actually ordering anything but drinks for a while so that Yoshitaka and Shinichirou and Toshinori could get all of their questions out of the way. Hikaru felt like they had managed to answer everything without getting into vulgarity or over-sharing or making Akari too uncomfortable. And with that behind them, Hikaru felt up to ordering.

A little while later, they had their food in front of them. Platters of marinated meat and vegetables (no onions on any of them for Akari's sake) were set up between them and they began grilling pieces and eating happily.

Toshinori, seated on the far side of the grill table from Hikaru, Akari and Akira, looked at them thoughtfully as he placed more marinated meat on the grill. "Fujisaki-chan, what do you intend to do once the baby is born?"

She frowned slightly as she finished the mouthful of grilled kombucha squash she was eating. "I don't exactly know, to be honest. I still have a while yet before I need to be worried about it. I've just barely started to show, so hardly anyone is even reacting yet, but there seem to be quite a few people who know now. But I suppose this is the kind of secret you can't keep entirely under wraps while attempting to live your life, hmm?"

Hikaru swallowed a mushroom without chewing it enough and coughed hard for a few moments, but recovered with the help of a few sips of his drink. "I'm going to help her, you guys. Right now, we're kind of all living over at Akira's place because Akari's parents kicked her out."

Toshinori set his chopsticks down and bowed his head. "You have my sympathies. It isn't an easy thing to make the choice that you made, but I admire you for it."

"Honda-kun..."

Yoshitaka snorted. "Yeah, because you know."

"Waya!" Toshinori cleared his throat. "My own mother made a similar choice. I am fortunate that she fell in love with another man who loved her back. They married when I was young and I was added to his family registry. To my knowledge, she never told my biological father that she was pregnant. But she was also kicked out by her family, and had to make her way entirely on her own for several years."

Shinichirou shook his head. "All of this time that we've known you and you never shared any of that?"

Toshinori shrugged. "There's a stigma on that here in Japan, even more than there is for other supposedly deviant behavior like being gay. But, as Fujisaki-chan said, its difficult to hide, so women have a very big choice to make very early on."

Hikaru nudged Akari with his elbow. "Honda. He's apparantly our resident feminist."

She grinned, then her nose wrinkled and she glanced back at the table behind them. "Oh, they just started cooking onions." She struggled to her feet. "I'll just go wait outside. I'm finished eating anyway."

Toshinori stood as well. "Would you like to try sitting here? The smell doesn't seem to be hitting here and I would hate to lose the pleasure of your company."

She walked around the table and stood next to Toshinori and stopped to sniff the air. "Oh! I don't smell it here! Thank you." Akari knelt down and handed Toshinori his drink and chopsticks with a grin. "Really, thank you. I didn't want that squash coming back up."

He took the items gladly and rounded the table to take the spot next to Hikaru who elbowed him and raised an eyebrow at Toshinori as he asked, "Dude, are you hitting on her?"

Toshinori shrugged. "I'm trying not to, but she's really cute."

Hikaru scrutinized Toshinori for a moment. "She thinks you're cute, just so you know," he whispered softly under the sizzle of the last bits of meat being added to the grill.

"She does?" Toshinori's eyes widened and he looked over at Akari who, it seemed, had been looking at him.

"It's the freckles," Hikaru added. "And you have my permission to ask her out if that's what you were wanting."

Toshinori shook his head. "I don't think she'd be emotionally ready for that, do you?"

Hikaru grabbed a last mushroom that had been sizzling on the edge of the grill's surface. "Akari constantly surprises me. If you're okay with dating her when she's pregnant with my kid, well, all I can say is that you better make her happy and all of that overprotective stuff I'm supposed to be saying."

Toshinori looked at Akari again whose focus seemed to have turned to her straw. "I'll think about it."

With Touya Kouyou and Akiko in China, Akari staying late at school for some project, and no real obligations for several hours, Hikaru and Akira had some alone time. It started, as it almost always did, with go. Just a quick game of speed go with pieces slapped down with quick efficiency that ended in a two and a half moku win by Hikaru, and then they could move on.

As they put away the stones, Hikaru looked up at Akira and smiled. "It's so strange to be alone with you anymore except when we go to bed."

"It's not a bad feeling though, is it?"

Hikaru placed the lids on the go ke. "It isn't. It's like the butterflies that I used to get in my stomach every time I was around you have come back to nest or whatever butterflies do. I... I've really missed getting to be alone with you. And not just for sex because I think we've managed more since Akari and I kind of moved in here, even if it's never really enough, but for just time together. Long games of go with no interruption and going out to Shinjuku together and you frowning but watching horrible movies with me anyway..." He grasped Akira's hand and pulled it away from the go ban. "I know we could probably ask everyone around us to let us have more time together, but it just doesn't feel right yet, you know?"

Akira smiled. "Stop worrying about how I feel, Hikaru. I'm with you, and that's what matters. I've been with you up to this point and I don't think there's anything that could pull me away at this point. If I believed in the red string of fate, I would think we were bound so tightly that nothing could be done."

"Strings have a breaking point," Hikaru countered. "Everything does. It's why I keep worrying."

Pulling Hikaru away from the go ban, Akira laughed. "You know me. I may bend, but I don't break."

"I'd like to see how far you can bend," Hikaru said with a laugh. "If Akari weren't supposed to be back here in, like, 20 minutes, I might put that to the-" He frowned and pulled his phone from his pocket as it buzzed. He took a moment to read the text message he'd received and then looked up at Akira. "Okay, strike that. Akari met up with a friend and is going out to dinner and will be back later. So, I'm definitely going to bend you."

Akira was already unbuttoning his shirt. "Now, don't go trying to break me."

Hikaru leaned in and nipped at Akira's ear. "Not even a little?"

"Okay, maybe just a little." Akira gasped as Hikaru grabbed him roughly around the waist and pulled him close. "Up to my room."

Hikaru pulled away and grinned. "Race you." He took off out of the play room with Akira practically on his heels.

They ended up in a tangled heap on the futon in Akira's room that hadn't been put away that morning. They separated briefly, but just to take off their clothes, and then they were back together with Hikaru straddling one of Akira's thighs and pushing the other man onto his back and kissing him softly. He pulled away and turned his attentions to the pale column of Akira's neck and placed a line of gentle, open-mouthed kisses that led downward to cross his collarbone and his solar plexus and his navel and then stopped at the tip of Akira's cock, already leaking pre-come. Hikaru smeared it on his lips and licked it off before taking the head into his mouth and sucking gently and easing himself down on it just barely. Akira groaned and carded his fingers through Hikaru's hair.

Hikaru fumbled for the lubricant under the corner of the futon (the main reason they hadn't been putting it up lately) and applied it to Akira's entrance quickly and efficiently, letting the tube drop to the floor as soon as he got it closed. He pulled his mouth off of Akira and moved back up to kiss him again. Akira manuevered himself around so that he was on his hands and knees and Hikaru fumbled for a condom (also stashed under the futon corner), slid it on, grasped his own cock and pressed the head against Akira's entrance and pushed slowly.

Akira buried his face in his pillow and Hikaru could feel him pressing back against the intrusion so that Hikaru slid in slowly but without much effort. When his hips rested smoothly against Akira's ass, he ran his hands down Akira's sides and grasped at his waist. "It always feel so amazing to be inside of you," he said and felt his voice seem to catch on the words, or some unsaid emotion that still managed to be present.

"Don't talk," Akira said and pressed himself backward. Hikaru gripped him tighter and rocked against him as he bit his lip.

Hikaru eased himself further in and out with every stroke, gaining momentum until he reached the pace he liked best, both for his own desires and for the desired effect on Akira who nearly vibrated beneath him with his movements. Only when he turned his head to the side and quested a hand under himself to work more urgently toward his own orgasm did Hikaru feel as though he had gained any control of the encounter and used the moment to slow his pace dramatically for several long strokes, and then returned to the quickened pace.

Akira cried out as he came onto his own hand and continued to stroke himself slowly as Hikaru continued to thrust into him until he finally found his own release. He sat back on his haunches after pulling out and tried to catch his breath. "I needed that," Hikaru said with a laugh.

Stretching out his arms above his head, Akira nodded and stood up. "Come on. Let's go get cleaned up." Hikaru pulled off the used condom and knotted the end and wrapped it in a tissue before following.

When Hikaru found himself sitting on the couch later that evening, wondering where Akari was, he made himself get up and go find Akira. The other man was in the kitchen doing the large pile of dishes. "I keep finding myself waiting up on Akari," he said as he opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water.

Akira looked up from his scrub brush and rubber gloves. "Well, you're worried about her, aren't you?"

Hikaru opened the bottle and took a long gulp of the water and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Not really? I don't know. Like, I worry that something could happen to her or the baby or I worry that someone might be mean to her about being an unwed mother even though, really, it's not like they'll be able to tell just from looking at her, right? You can still barely tell she's pregnant when you know."

Shaking the soap suds off over the sink after setting down the scrub brush, Akira took off his gloves and stole the bottle of water from Hikaru's hands and took a sip. "So you're worried for her, but worried about everything around her."

"Pretty much."

Akira took another sip and then handed the bottle back to Hikaru. "Isn't one of the inborn traits of men the desire to protect their progeny? You have so many reasons to care. You feel platonic love for her that has, at least once, transcended into something else. She's carrying a child. Your child. Just as long as you aren't asking her where she's been all the time, I think you can cut yourself a little slack."

"But I want to know where she's been!" Hikaru gulped down more water and then screwed the lid on tightly. "I... I don't know. I know that she's got her own life, but I think I forget that a little sometimes because of all of the time we spend together now. I've known Akari for longer than anyone else I hang out with and even though we've gone back and forth over the years with how much we see each other, it's as though it suddenly isn't enough."

Akira leaned back against the counter. "Are you falling in love with her?"

"What?" Hikaru dropped the bottle of water and it bounced on the floor and rolled over to Akira's feet.

"I asked," Akira said as he picked up the bottle and set it on the counter, "whether you were falling in love with her. It's a simple enough question."

"No! I'm not falling in love with her. I feel more like a parent waiting up for her than a jealous husband, Akira. Way to jump to conclusions!"

"I'm making sure. We all have emotions getting tied up in knots over this. Mine are no exception."

Hikaru rested his forehead against Akira's. "You're never losing me. What else do I have to do in order to prove that to you?"

Akira laughed and brought his hands up to tangle in Hikaru's hair. "That's something that isn't really proven until the end, you know."

Hikaru grabbed Akira's wrists and moved in to kiss him soundly. "Doesn't mean I'm going to quit trying," he whispered with his lips just brushing Akira's own.

"Oh! Am I interrupting something?"

Hikaru turned to look and laughed. "Nothing much. Hey, Akari."

She covered her mouth as she giggled. "Sorry about that, then. And, hey, yourself! You, too, Akira-kun."

Akira shook his hands free from Hikaru's grasp and moved back to the sink. "Good evening, Akari-chan."

Akari bit her lip and looked at Hikaru with her eyes widened. "So, guess who I just had dinner with."

Hikaru stepped closer. "Your mother?"

"Um, well, no." Akari's face fell, but she let out a brief laugh anyway. "Nothing quite as good as that, I suppose. But I ran into Toshinori-kun and he invited me for dinner and I said yes!"

"Seriously? Did he ask you to call him that because I still call him Honda."

With a roll of her eyes, Akari opened the refrigerator and got out her own bottle of water. "We talked a lot about his childhood and how his mother managed to deal with being a single mother for the first little while and I really feel so much better about it all after talking to him."

Hikaru smiled. "That's great, Akari. I'm really glad that he's managed to help you out."

"And we're going out again this weekend!" Akari opened her water and took several long swallows. "He's really such a nice guy, isn't he?"

"Yeah." Hikaru picked up his slightly dented water bottle and placed a kiss on Akira's cheek. "You know, I think I'm going to go visit my parents tonight. I haven't seen them in a while."

"Oh." Akari grinned. "Let your mother know that I'm really looking forward to our shrine visit."

"Shrine visit?" Hikaru put an arm around Akira's shoulder and leaned on him gently.

Akari's nose wrinkled as she smiled. "In the fifth month, the mother is supposed to go to a special shrine with her mother and pray for safe delivery and all of that, and you get a special obi that's supposed to help keep the baby warm. Since my mother still hasn't even tried to call me, well, your mother offered." She looked around Hikaru to Akira. "Akira-kun, your mother is supposed to be coming back for it, too."

Akira dropped his scrub brush into the sink. "What? When?"

"I think we decided on the 20th of next month. Say, Hikaru, isn't that when you've got that game over in... Was it Osaka?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah, Osaka. It's the second match for the Shinjin-O title."

Akira laughed. "I don't even know why they bother making you travel for that one. It's such a minor title-"

"Says the man who was upset that he couldn't compete in the Okan because he wasn't at the Nagoya branch!" Hikaru laughed. "I'm not going to turn down a minor title just because it isn't as prestigious as some of the others, and I've worked hard to get to the finals. I think I might even try for one of the hayago titles next year. Fuku almost won Ryusei this year and I really can't let him win a title before me. And there's still Gosei that's up in the air. Plus, Shinjin-O is an under-25 tournament starting this year so there's going to be extra media coverage and all of that."

Sticking out his tongue, Akira used his hip to push Hikaru away. "Didn't you say you were going to visit your parents?"

"I don't think I want to anymore."

Akari giggled. "What made you change your mind?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I don't know. I think I'm just being weird. Like, I think it's great that things are going well between you and Honda, but I'm just, I don't know, wary?"

She clutched her bottle of water tightly. "Do you think I'm not? I'm scared, Hikaru. I really am. He's only the fourth boy I've ever kissed-"

"You already kissed him? Akari!"

"Hikaru, shut up! Anyway, um, I do feel a little bit like he might only be doing this because he feels sorry for me or something, but I do seem to get along with him well and since I was starting to think that I'd never have a chance at a real relationship ever again, well, I'm not going to turn him down."

Hikaru's eyebrows furrowed together. "Are you trying to marry him?"

She shook her head. "I'm trying not to be lonely."

Akira slid off his gloves again. "I can't blame you there. I must admit that I don't know Honda-kun terribly well, but I don't get a bad impression off of him either."

"He's really very sweet," Akari said with a shy grin. "He took me out for soba."

Hikaru snorted. "No wonder you kissed him! Geez, Akari, why couldn't you crave something I don't mind buying for you? Like, oh, oden? It's not as good as ramen, but some fried tofu with a dab of karashi mustard? I could go for that."

Akari frowned. "Just the thought of that made me nauseous."

"Seriously?" Hikaru groaned. "Well, forget that, then."

Akira turned to the sink and sighed. "Why can't the dishes do themselves?"

Hikaru gently pushed Akira out of the way. "You did most of them already. I'll get the rest. If you were the only one here, you wouldn't have this many dishes to do anyway, so the least I can do is help out as much as possible."

Akari huffed. "I told both of you that I'm happy to help out with things around here."

"It wouldn't be right," Akira said. "You need to take care of yourself and the baby. Oh, when will you be able to find out the sex? It's not very much fun to just refer to the baby as 'it' or 'the baby'."

"I might find out at my appointment in two weeks since I'll be at 20 weeks then. The doctor did tell me that it might depend on how the baby is turned, though."

Akira took Hikaru's bottle of water, opened it and took a sip. "What do they do at your appointments?"

"Well, uh, I've only really had the two appointments so far. But, it seems like it won't change too much from one time to the next. So, basically, I go in and hand over my coupon book and my Maternal and Child Handbook and then I get to go and, um, pee in a cup that I write my name and the date on and cover it with a tissue to carry back to the nurse's desk. They call me in and take my measurements. So, my weight and my blood pressure, and they did blood tests at my first appointment and I think I'll have at least one more set of those. Then I go in with the doctor and they measure my abdomen and do an ultrasound and they tell me kind of what's going on and what to expect and ask if I'm having any problems and then I get told not to gain too much weight and to keep my stomach warm and then I go and schedule my next appointment."

Hikaru scrubbed at the bottom of a pan. "That sounds like a pain."

She shrugged. "I've been doing my homework in the waiting room so I don't mind the waiting itself, and most of it is actually really reassuring. Knowing that I'm healthy and progressing well and the baby is growing correctly and has a strong heartbeat... I just feel really good knowing that everything is going smoothly."

Akira finished off the bottle of water in his hands and capped it before putting it with the recycling. "I'm very glad for you."

Hikaru rinsed off a dish before putting it on the drying rack. "Could I go with you to one of your appointments? I mean, you aren't, like, naked for them, right?"

"Well, for the last two appointments, the ultrasound has been, well... vaginal. But, I think they're supposed to start just doing it on the stomach after this. Even when I've gone with your mother, though, they make her wait outside of the room for a lot of it."

"Well, just let me know, okay? It's one thing to see the little pictures you've brought home, but it's way different being there, isn't it?"

She nodded. "I think so. I don't know how it is for a guy, though. But it's the only way I can see what's going on inside of me. I can't feel the baby kicking yet and it might be weeks and weeks before I really do, but I've seen my baby move and I've listened to the heartbeat and that lets me hold on until I can see it again."

Hikaru nodded and scrubbed a glass. "You should probably go rest a little. A hot date? Those are exhausting."

Akari laughed. "You just want to go back to making out with Akira-kun, don't you?"

"Akari!" Hikaru waved the scrub brush at her menacingly. "You know me too well. But you also keep not getting enough rest! And go put some socks on. Didn't you tell me that your doctor said to keep your feet warm?"

"Yes, Hikaru," Akari stuck her tongue out at him and hit his head lightly with her half-full water bottle as she walked past him.

Hikaru raised his eyebrows at Akira. "Where were we?"

Akira leaned in and kissed Hikaru softly. "There. And now we're at the point where I just remembered that I have to be at an event very early tomorrow morning."

Hikaru frowned. "My make-out session!"

"You've got the dishes to keep you company! And you're almost done."

Hikaru went back to scrubbing a glass and sighed as Akira left the room. "I need to win a title so I can hire someone to clean."

Hikaru groaned as he was dragged out of his slumber by the sound of a truck honking outside. He yawned as he rubbed at his eyes and struggled up into a sitting position. "Akira?" He looked over at the other man and smiled at the way he was nearly wrapped around his pillow and still obviously in deep slumber. Hikaru extricated himself from the futon and headed off to the bathroom to do his usual morning routine.

He yawned three more times while brushing his teeth, but the taste of the mint toothpaste did seem to wake him up just enough to start considering plans for the day. Akari would be having her next date with Toshinori that afternoon, so he and Akira would have the place to themselves for a while. And as much as he wanted time to touch Akira without having to worry about anything else, there was something else he wanted even more: a game. They had managed enough games of speed go to keep the edge off, but Hikaru was going crazy about the fact that they hadn't played one of their long games in quite a while. A game played in 45 minutes was never going to reach the depth and complexity of a game played in six hours, and it was those long games of go that he was really beginning to miss.

Hikaru could admit to himself that when the opportunity presented itself to stay with Akira for longer than the initial night or two that had come about because of their quick little plan, that he had envisioned setting up a board in the play room with no real rules on it. He pictured stepping in on his way back from using the toilet to place a stone and then going about his day until the next time he had the opportunity to make his way into the room to check to see if Akira had played yet and maybe waiting days before the next move had been played with that new stone starkly real in its sudden existence against the backdrop of a familiar game, and all of that going on for weeks and weeks until one of them would come into the room to see the stones scattered as a sign of silent resignation. That thought of a game played almost entirely without interaction beyond the initial nigiri, and where the communication between them was only through the game; it appealed to him. He also pictured games played through dinner until the growling of his stomach could cover up the sound of the stones hitting the go ban, and games played outside with Akira sneezing into his handkerchief as ragweed pollen or whatever it was that bothered him so tremendously assaulted his senses.

The fact that none of those things had happened yet, even after weeks of living together, was really getting annoying, so he was going to make it happen. After making and eating toast and starting to brew tea, Hikaru carefully set up a folding goban on the heavy wooden table just outside of the outer door to the play room and then went to wake Akira. It only took a tap to his boyfriend's shoulder to get him to mumble something entirely incoherant, roll off of his pillow and struggle to a standing position with his hair mussed. "You're kind of adorable like that," Hikaru said with a grin.

Akira sneered. "Ugh. No thanks."

"Let's play a game!"

"Let me have breakfast and get in a shower and then we can-"

"No!" Hikaru grabbed Akira's arm and dragged him toward the door. "Let's play in pajamas. We don't have anything to do today, and I want a really long game where you make me wait twenty minutes before you even grab a stone. We never get to play long games anymore." Hikaru felt his lower lip drop slightly. "Please?"

Akira yawned and scratched the back of his head. "Wouldn't you rather go to Murasakizui? Ichikawa-san will bring us tea, we can get her to order our lunch when she orders her own, and then I can take a shower first."

"You don't need a shower. It has been less than 24 hours since your last shower and you look and smell fine. Comb your hair and put on deodorant and clothes and let's go. I really want to be playing you right now."

With a grimace, Akira glanced over at his closet. "Oh, fine. But I'm going to shower when we get back."

Hikaru smiled brightly. "And I can shower with you!"

There was a pause while Akira rooted in a bureau drawer for a pair of underwear. "Even when you lose?"

Wrist deep in the neighboring bureau drawer, which had recently come to house some of his belongings, and grabbing his own underwear, Hikaru snorted. "Either way is a win, isn't it? Whether I win or lose, I end up in a shower with you."

"Loser has to scrub the winner's back, then."

As he began to take off his pajama top, Hikaru laughed. "See? Still a win. Now, come on! And, uh, maybe we'll stop and get food along the way because my toast was not nearly enough for break..." He trailed off and frowned before running toward the door with his shirt off and shouting, "My tea!"

Ichikawa Harumi bowed to Hikaru and Akira as they walked in. "Hello, boys. I haven't seen you in here in a long time!"

Akira put a hand on his neck. "We've been, well, busy?"

She giggled with her hand in front of her mouth for a moment. "Akira-kun, you don't need to hide it. I know that the two of you are dating. I overheard Seiji-san talking about it the last time he came in here to play. I'm a little hurt that you didn't tell me yourself, though."

Hikaru snorted. "You call him 'Seiji-san'? That's just weird."

Harumi's face flushed slightly. "We've been out to see each other a few times."

Akira chuckled. "Well, at least I'm not the only one with an interesting dating life. Does he take you to the tropical fish store?"

"He doesn't really do that, does he?" Harumi blanched.

Hikaru shrugged. "Akira used to tell me that if he couldn't find that guy at the Ki-in, he'd go to that fish store. So, I guess he likes his fish a lot, at least?"

Harumi chewed on her thumbnail. "He does talk about his fish a lot." She shook her head and held up her fists in front of her. "But, you know what? That's better than talking about other women!"

Akira laughed weakly. "Ichikawa-san, just... Only stay with him if he's making you happy, okay?"

She nodded firmly. "I will."

Hikaru draped an arm around Akira's shoulders. "This guy and I are going to go play in the back. Can we get some tea? Please?"

Harumi bowed her head and grinned. "Sure. I'll bring it over in a few minutes, okay?"

"That would be great," Akira said and allowed himself to be led to the same table where he and Hikaru had played their very first game.

Hikaru sat down and opened his go ke and grinned widely and slapped down the first move from that first game. "I can't believe how long we've known each other."

Akira placed the next stone in the sequence. "It hasn't been that long, really. A third of our lives or so."

"Which is a long time!"

Smiling, Akira let the conversation drop and focused on the game. He followed the pattern of that old game for a while, but placed a different hand once they had begun to broach the sides. "How many times have we played this opening, do you think?"

Hikaru responded with a move straight out of Sai's arsenal. "One hundred and twelve? I don't know. A lot. If I thought about it, I could probably tell you, but I'm just having fun playing."

Akira let his smile drop as he was pulled into the game. "We've used it as a warm-up for years, so I don't think you're that far off."

Hikaru grimaced at the board. "We don't really need the warm-up, though. I kind of feel like we've moved so far beyond this game that we're not doing ourselves any favors by continuing to relive it. Isn't part of growing up the simple matter of putting the past behind us?"

"Is it that simple?" Akira toyed with a stone. "I understand your reasons, but I don't think you have to be that quick to sweep away the past just because the future seems daunting. Although, speaking of the future, Akari is almost halfway through with her pregnancy, right? Have you talked to her more about her living situation?"

Hikaru shook his head. "She won't even really let me bring it up. The few times that I've tried? I don't even know..." He laughed softly. "It'll hit her, though. That, uh, nesting instinct, I guess it's called? But I think she just needs to come to terms with what's going to be happening and then she'll start making decisions left and right. I don't want to push her because, I mean, I don't want her to think we're kicking her out, but I know it isn't going to work if she stays with us with a baby there because-" He sighed. "I can't be a father. I start to think about go and the rest of the world ceases to exist. It's just me, my opponent, and the board and the stones. I am so glad that I don't have to hit my own time clock for the big matches or I would be screwed because, seriously, everything else fades to black and what would I do if I were supposed to be listening out for a screaming baby while playing and then I miss it and it was something important-"

"Hikaru, you're freaking out." Akira took a deep breath. "It can't be easy to think about that. I'm choosing not to think about it for the time being because I don't want it to take my focus off of getting through the days. When I try to stop to think about what might be happening in three or fourth months, I start to feel sick to my stomach."

Harumi showed up with their tea and frowned. "Are you not feeling well?"

Akira shook his head. "It's nothing, really. We're just discussing something."

"Is it about how everyone thinks that Shindou-kun will have a title before you? Because all of those people have been wrong about titles before!"

Hikaru snickered. "Nah. I'm totally going to win, though. It's probably the biggest of the little titles, but it's something."

Akira shrugged. "Hardly anyone manages to hold on to multiple titles. So he can have his Shinjin-O and I'll take Gosei. Besides, my father did well with multiple titles, so maybe that will just be the start of my collection."

"Hey!" Hikaru grabbed his tea cup off of Harumi's tray and took a sip as she frowned and passed Akira his own cup. "This is stupid to argue about. We have plenty of games before we even play each other in the prelims and then there's the chance that neither of us is going to make it to the title matches, so it's all up in the air. But I'm still going to kick your ass."

"It can be so infuriating to be around you when you're being competitive," Akira said as he carefully set his tea cup down.

Hikaru snickered. "Says the man playing footsie with me."

Harumi smiled. "I'll just leave the two of you alone, then."

The game continued for a while before Hikaru gave the board one last long look. "I resign. There's no way for me to let this group live and I'd need it to win. Let's get on with the real game, okay?"

Akira began to clear away the stones. "Do you want to nigiri?"

Hikaru shook his head as he capped his black stones and slid them over to Akira. "Nope. Just switch." Akira did the same with his go ke of white stones.

Taking the first black stone between his fingers, Akira looked calmly at the board before placing his stone. With a slight nod, Hikaru played the next hand. Akira countered quickly and Hikaru took the final corner. With the four corners taken, the game began to slow dramatically. They each took the time to truly consider every possible outcome of their move which made each successive move take more and more consideration.

When Hikaru had finally placed his stone after twenty minutes of debate between 3-9 and 3-10, he leaned back in his chair only to have his cell phone ring. "Seriously?" He hit the button to accept the call and held it up to his ear. "Yeah?"

"Hikaru? Does Akira have a spare key somewhere?"

Hikaru frowned and looked over at Akira as he pulled the phone away from his ear. "Hey, Akari wants to know if you have a spare key."

Akira shook his head. "No. That's the one I gave to her. Did she lose her keys?"

"I'll ask." Hikaru spoke into the phone again. "Did you lose your keys?"

"No. Or, well, I don't think so? I think I just left them on the table this morning. But I'm standing in front of the door now and I can't get in."

Hikaru sighed. "I'm not that far away. I'll come let you in, okay?"

"What? No! I'll come get the keys from you, okay?"

"Do you know how to get to Murasakizui from there?"

"Um, I think so? I'll give you a call again if I get lost, okay?"

"Sure. I'm going back to my game now. Bye!" Hikaru hung up the phone and tucked it back in his pocket. He watched Akira's fingers place a stone and groaned. "Really? That's the weakness you're going to exploit?"

Akira pointed to the corner to his left side. "What? Did you want me to go after this? I have confidence that I can shut down anything you start to try with this formation."

Hikaru laughed softly. "We'll see."

The two men were drawn into the game further with each move increasing the complexity of the board for the next move. Hikaru was in thrall with the feeling of it. There was something so powerful, to him, about attempting to wrest control of a corner from his opponent in the mid-game or forging a structure of stones early in the game that he managed to defend throughout. Games with Akira were even better because they understood each other's go. Other opponents still underestimated him sometimes, especially when he did play moves that ran counter to their expectations, but Akira now always assumed that any stone's placement that he didn't understand was one to be watched and probably killed. Hikaru was beginning to learn to take advantage of that reaction.

Hikaru relaxed his concentration for a moment after capturing one of Akira's stones and grabbed for his tea cup and found it empty. He looked up to find Harumi to ask her for more tea and, instead, found Akari sitting in a chair that she had pulled up. "Oh, hey! How long have you been sitting there?"

She giggled. "About thirty minutes?"

"Seriously?" Hikaru shook his head. "You should have, I don't know, nudged me or something?"

Akari shook her head. "Nah. You were into it. I like to watch you guys play sometimes. It's really soothing."

Akira bit his lip as he placed a stone without the conviction that normally went into his moves. "Soothing is not exactly the word I would use to describe this game. Hikaru is a difficult opponent."

Hikaru shrugged. "Like you're not?" He pulled his keys from his pocket and handed them to Akari. "I had heard that pregnant women get forgetful. Should we get another copy of the key made?"

Akari jerked the keys from his hand. "This is only the first time that I've forgotten my keys. It may not even happen again!"

Harumi took that moment to bring over tea for all three of them. "This girl said she was a friend of yours. It is okay that I let her in, isn't it?"

Hikaru snorted. "Of course! Akari lives with us."

"What?" Harumi set down her tray on an empty chair and pulled yet another empty chair over to sit among them. "You have a girl living with you? Akira-kun! How can you be okay with that?"

Akira sighed. "I guess Ogata-san didn't tell you everything." He launched into an explanation of the situation again, with interjections by Hikaru and Akari.

Harumi sat back in her chair as Akira trailed off. "But, you're just kids! You shouldn't have to be dealing with this."

"Was I ever really a kid?" Akira grinned wryly. "Look, in many ways, this is an advantageous situation. Before all of this, I barely knew one of Hikaru's best friends. Now, I could tell you her bra size."

Akari blushed. "Akira-kun!"

Akira waved his hands in front of him. "You hung it up to dry in the bathroom and I have good vision. That's all it was!"

Hikaru snickered. "You know, you probably should have just kept that to yourself and talked about how you know her favorite kind of soba."

Harumi smiled as she bit her bottom lip. "Ooo, soba. I love soba."

Akari grinned. "Isn't it great?"

"Seriously? What is with everyone that I know just loving soba like it's a puppy or something?" He grimaced at the odd look he got from the others. "Okay, so that's a weird metaphor. But I just want one other person that I hang out with to dislike soba so that I can have a nice, safe soba-free zone."

"I can take or leave soba," Akira said. "And I wouldn't force you to eat it."

Hikaru smiled gratefully. "Thank you! That's at least something." His eyes widened suddenly and he turned to Akari. "Wait! Weren't you out on a date with Honda today?"

Akari stuck her tongue out as she smiled. "We didn't go out for very long. It seems he kind of double booked, I guess? He was supposed to help one of his friends move and had it all planned, but then he asked me out again. He didn't even remember until he happened to see his friend at the store who asked what time he was coming over to help. Toshinori-kun looked so shocked! It was really cute."

Harumi frowned. "Be careful with that guy. I had a guy do that to me before, but it was really just his friend helping him out when he realized he didn't want to be with me any longer."

Hikaru frowned. "Honda wouldn't do that. At least, I don't think so?"

Akari shook her head. "If it was, it was a pretty elaborate scheme. The guy was buying several rolls of packing tape, cleaning supplies, and he already had a handkerchief wrapped around his head and he was kind of sweaty. He had to take his glasses off to clean them because they were fogging up because he was so warm."

"Do you remember his name?" Hikaru leaned forward.

"I'm not certain that I was formally introduced," Akari said. "But, he had the calluses of a go player and he seemed to be just a little older than us."

Hikaru nodded in satisfaction. "Okay. Well, there probably isn't anything going on there, then."

Akira shook his head. "You act as though no go player could be involved in anything underhanded."

Rolling his eyes, Hikaru said, "No. That isn't it at all. I mean, I know of several go players who probably should have been arrested. But a serious go player not too much older than us who wears glasses? That kind of does narrow it down, and especially when you look at people that Honda's close enough to that he would help the guy move but someone that I'm not close enough to that they would ask me. I'd be willing to bet that it's Iijima, actually, when I think of it in those terms, and he's a good guy."

Harumi nodded sharply. "Okay, then."

Akari laughed. "I don't think we were properly introduced, by the way. I'm Fujisaki Akari." She held out her hand.

Taking Akari's hand, Harumi shook it gently. "I'm Ichikawa Harumi."

Hikaru grabbed another stone from his go ke. "Akari, you have the keys if you want to head back to the house. Or, stay here and watch. But I haven't gotten to play a serious game with Akira in, like, weeks, so we're going to go back to that. But, Ichikawa? Could you leave the tea?"

Harumi let out a bark of laughter. "The mouth on you!" She replaced the tea cups on the table with the fresher ones that had cooled while they talked. She turned to Akari. "I'll be up by the front desk if you want to talk more." She smiled brightly as she put her chair back and walked off.

Focused again on the board, Hikaru was surprised when Akari leaned in and pressed a kiss on his cheek and then crossed the short distance to do the same for Akira. "It really is amazing how much the people in your world don't seem to care about this as much as the people I have to deal with. I'm... I've got to go study for my finals. I'll fill out my paperwork in a few days to have them hold a place for me at school until next year. I'll decide a little later whether I'll actually go back at all." She waved and rushed off.

Hikaru shook his head. "I'm pretty sure that I could be a girl and still not understand them. Did I say something to upset her?"

Akira shrugged. "I guess she's just feeling lonely?"

With a sigh, Hikaru picked up a handful of stones and dropped them on the board. "You know, maybe this will just make that Gosei prelim match even more special."

As he began to put away the stones, Akira laughed. "You can make it until next year, right?"

Hikaru groaned. "She's due on January 10th, right? And I read that a lot of women go longer than their due date for their first kid."

Akira scooped up a handful of black stones and poured them back into Hikaru's go ke that he wasn't paying any attention to. "It might help if you let her know just how much research you've been doing."

"How? So we can have a meaningful discussion about how gross what her body is doing is? She needs, like, other people who are going through the same thing. Weren't there classes she could take? Would I need to go to those?" Hikaru shook his head. "I'm going to be a basketcase at the end of this, aren't I?"

Capping both of the go ke in one move, Akira stood up. "I'm reasonably certain that you were already a basketcase."

Taking a last sip of his tea, Hikaru followed. "Your basketcase."

Akira grinned. "And don't forget it. Now, let's head home and keep Akari-chan from becoming too stressed."

Hikaru could hear Akari yawning as she came in the front door. "Hey! How was your last day of exams?"

"I'm abstaining from writing for the next week. If you see me pick up a pen, I want you to smack my hand. The cramps in my hand have cramps!" Akari stalked through the room and sat heavily on the couch.

Hikaru laughed. "I felt that way when I tried to make up a book of kifu of the games with Sai that I remembered. I filled a whole notebook and wanted to cut my hand off afterward."

With a sigh, Akari pulled her legs up underneath her and moved one hand to rub at her stomach. "I'm just glad this is over. I'm starting to get a little of my energy back, but I've been tired for the last few months, and it's not getting any easier to fall asleep at night."

"You're not in pain or anything, are you?" Hikaru sat forward and set the TV remote on the coffee table in front of him.

She shook her head. "Nothing like that. I just feel uncomfortable. I'm used to sleeping on my stomach, but I can't do that now, so I usually end up tossing and turning for a while until I fall asleep with one leg curled up under me so that I'm facing downward without the pressure on my stomach, but when I try to get into that position, I just can't seem to manage. I just have to move around a lot, and then if I do get comfortable, it's inevitable that I'll have to get up to pee."

Hikaru snorted. "Sorry. I don't mean to laugh, but it is kind of funny to picture."

Akari started to glare at him, but her eyes narrowed and she looked down at her stomach. "I think the baby just kicked."

"What? Seriously?" Hikaru's eyes lit up. "Can I feel it?"

Akari shook her head as she smiled. "I felt one kick. If I start feeling more, I'll let you know."

"Oh, yeah. You might just be feeling gas right now."

"Hikaru!" Akari rubbed her stomach again. "I'd like to think I'm beginning to learn the difference, at least."

Sighing, Hikaru leaned his head back. "Man. I feel like everything is taking so long to happen right now. It seems like forever since we moved in here, but there's still something like six or seven weeks to go until the Shinjin-O match and your shrine visit and then another month or more after that until I play Akira in the Gosei prelims. I've got oteai games and a few others things before then, but everything is being really boring right now."

Akari licked the corner of her mouth. "Well, you could come with me to a few of my baby classes if you wanted to."

Hikaru sat up straight again. "I figured you weren't going to go!"

"What? Don't be silly!" Akari yawned suddenly, but shook her head with a smile. "I just wasn't going to go while school was still in session. Now that I'm done with that semester, I can focus on making plans for the future without potentially endangering my future."

"That's what you were doing? Man, Akira and I thought you were just stalling."

"I was, a little." Akari shrugged. "I don't want to think about what's going to happen, but I know I need to. And, until I just confront it, I'll never know what I'm capable of. So, uh, if you want to help me start looking for a place? Toshinori-kun is already asking around for me, but I've already been turned down by a few places."

Hikaru sighed. "Because of..." He gestured to her stomach.

She nodded. "Yeah. Well, that and the fact that I don't have a job. What am I supposed to put down for my income? And I've got some money stashed away in the bank, but it isn't enough that these kinds of problems just go away."

With a serious look on his face, Hikaru said, "Would three million yen help?"

Akira's eyes widened. "You can't mean that."

"I totally can!" Hikaru smiled. "If it helps, I actually have more than that in savings. Maybe five million yen right now? I know you don't want me to pay for everything, but if I win the Shinjin-O tournament, I want to give you my winnings."

"I can't take that kind of money from you, Hikaru!"

"So I'll win the Gosei title, too! That's almost eight million yen if you win it!" Hikaru shrugged. "Whatever else happens... That baby growing inside of you? It's mine, too. I'm not going to be in its life like a normal father, but I want to play my part. And, again, you're my best friend, Akari. What's money between friends?"

Akari laughed. "What about the time you didn't talk to me for almost a month because you'd borrowed a thousand yen from me and didn't want to have to pay it back yet?"

"That's different! This wouldn't be a loan. It would be a gift. And it's not for you. It's for the baby."

Moving her other hand so that both hands clutched her stomach, Akari nodded. "Okay. But only if you actually win that tournament."

Hikaru grinned widely. "Now I can't lose!"

"Oh, Hikaru!" Akari grabbed Hikaru's hand and placed it on her stomach. "Do you feel it?"

He shook his head. "No?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Maybe next time."

"Just a few more weeks until you find out if it's a boy or a girl, huh?"

Akari nodded happily and smoothed down her shirt. "Yeah."

"Do you have names picked out?"

"Not yet. I... I want to start to get to know my baby before I name him."

"Him?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

Akari shook her head. "It's nothing. Just a feeling, I guess."

Hikaru nodded. "Feelings are important things to hold on to."

"They are, aren't they?" Akari said as she stroked her fingers across her abdomen absentmindedly.

Akira rolled his eyes as Hikaru started to tap his fingers on the table in front of them in the cafe yet again. "Hikaru!"

"What?" Hikaru looked down at his hand and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. But I'm excited!"

"I know you're excited. You've said as much at least half a dozen times since we got here an hour ago. Akari-chan will be done with her appointment soon and then you'll find out and no amount of tapping will make it happen any sooner."

Hikaru stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend. "I'm also excited because we're going to go look at places."

Akira tapped the stack of papers on the table between them. "Do you think you have enough?"

"We probably won't go to all of them. But I just finished getting rid of all of the ones that wouldn't rent to an unwed mother."

Akira looked at the stack again. "How many did that take out?"

Hikaru shrugged. "Maybe half of them?"

"That's a lot."

Hikaru pulled the stack of papers in front of him and began sorting them by a system even he didn't understand since it was more to have something to do with his hands that wasn't more tapping. "Do you know how lucky we are?"

"Hmm?" Akira pulled his tea cup closer and took a sip.

"We play go, Akira. That is the extent of the difficulty in our lives. We make money by doing what we love, we have parents who support us in our personal and professional lives, and most of society is content to let us be. Akari doesn't have that right now. She's basically disowned, she's an unwed teenage mother, and no one except the people who support us are giving her any support. I... I have to do everything that I can for her. I don't know what she goes through when she's not with us, but she doesn't deserve any of the bad things."

"She's a strong woman, Hikaru."

Hikaru gathered the papers back into one stack and stared at them. "So? Does that make things hurt less?"

Akira gripped his mug tightly. "That wasn't what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"She's just as much of a grown-up as you are, Hikaru! Do you think she's going to be better off as a single mom who was coddled on her way there or as one who fought for everything?!"

Hikaru's breath caught in his throat. "Do you think that she's going to have that baby and I'm just suddenly going to drop out of the picture? I may not be 'Father of the Year' material, but just as a friend I would offer more help than that."

Akira shook his head. "I didn't mean to insinuate that."

"Look..." Hikaru shook his head and stole Akira's tea mug to take a gulp of the now-lukewarm liquid, "I don't think you're wrong for what you're thinking. You have a good point there. But it isn't like she hasn't already experienced getting turned down for that reason so I'm just trying to save her from more of that on the day we learn the baby's sex. Shouldn't today be happy? Isn't that why we're here?"

Akira ran his index finger along the rim of his mug where it was still wet from Hikaru's lips. "You're right."

Hikaru laughed and tapped his fingers on the stack of the paper. "I love when you say that." He glanced past Akira and his eyebrows raised. "She's here."

Akari walked into the cafe and glanced around for a moment before spotting them and coming over. Her lips were tight together, but her face still gave off an aura of excitement. "Well?" Akira said to her.

Akari's eyes shut for a moment and she said, "It's a boy!" Her eyes flew open to take in the sight of Hikaru and Akira's reactions.

Hikaru pumped a fist into the air. "Yes!"

Akira bowed his head calmly which belief the huge grin on his face. "Congratulations."

Letting out a laugh, Akari sat down and pushed her latest ultrasound picture to the middle of the table. "The doctor called him an exhibitionist. As soon as they started the ultrasound, he moved to show off everything."

Akira snickered. "That does sound like Hikaru's child."

Hikaru snorted. "Sure, why not? Anyway, Akari, what can I get for you to celebrate with?"

Rubbing her stomach, Akari quirked her head to one side. "Um, royal milk tea and a slice of cheesecake?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Hikaru stood up and pushed over the stack of housing listings. "Go ahead and look through those and see if there are any that jump out at you."

Akira gestured to the papers. "He already went though and got rid of all of the undesireables."

Akari's eyebrows raised and she opened her mouth as though she was going to speak, but placed both hands on top of the papers and nodded instead. "Thank you. Now, cheesecake!"

Hikaru grinned and pulled out his wallet.

Hikaru lay back on the couch and looked at the ceiling. He couldn't quite keep his attention on any one thing for some reason and it had gotten to the point that Akira had rebuffed his advances for both sex and go. Akari had shaken her head and begged off because she had plans with Toshinori. Left to his own devices, Hikaru was listless.

He'd made instant ramen for dinner and ended up throwing half of it out when the noodles congealed into a blob at the bottom of the styrofoam bowl and soaked up too much liquid because he kept gazing off into the distance for no real reason. Since he'd gotten enough sleep and wasn't showing any signs of being ill, he wasn't sure what was wrong with him. So he sat and he thought and he let himself stare into the distance.

Tomorrow was when he would travel to Osaka so he could play in the second Shinjin-O title match on the following day. He wasn't terribly concerned about the game since he had played his opponent, Satonaka Eiji, several times over the years in various tournaments as well as the first Shinjin-O title match last week in Tokyo, and he'd never lost and wouldn't now unless Satonaka had suddenly grown a backbone and the ability to read deeper than 10 moves ahead. The thing that was strange was that he'd be alone for the first time in a long while. Akari would have her shrine visit and another doctor's appointment. Akira would visit with Ogata when that happened (something Hikaru was happy to miss out on) and then play host to his mother for the rest of her visit.

Then, it hit him. Akari. They had gone several times to look at different places for her to live, but there had been something wrong with each of them. The first one was too small. The second was drafty. The third had a cockroach that skittered across the kitchen floor. The fourth had too many stairs and not enough windows. But yesterday, they'd found a place. The rooms were small but well-maintained, the price was affordable, and the landlord was a sweet middle-aged woman who shook her head when Hikaru tried to explain their situation without giving too many details and had told them that she wasn't worried about the reputation of her tenants so much as their happiness, though she was also fond of their ability to pay on time.

Akari's eyes had been bright as they walked through the rooms and she had stood at the window of the bedroom for a long time just looking out at the city and enjoying the warmth of the setting sun on her face. When she'd asked Hikaru to help her with the deposit, he'd paid it all and the first three months of rent and the resulting reaction from Akari had been amazing.

But now it was starting to hit him that she would be moving out soon and would be starting a life that he would have a limited role in. He didn't know how to feel about it. He'd love to have more time actually being alone with Akira, and even to work. as he'd allowed his tutoring schedule to slack off in the last few months. He wanted to play go for hours without worrying that he wouldn't realize that Akari needed him for something small. In a lot of ways, it was a relief that there would, once again, be distance between the,, but he hated the feeling that such a desire left him with. He wanted to help her, even if obligation seemed to taint every one of his actions, but he felt hopeless in the role he was cast in.

Still... Whether Akari knew it or not, money was an important factor. He'd win the Shinjin-O and bring home the money and he'd give it to Akari. And then? Gosei. And any other title he could get his hands on. Akari wasn't going to bring a claim against him for anything, he knew that much, so he would just have to put it out there and tell her in no uncertain terms that it was for them, both her and their little boy, because... Because Hikaru was maybe better seen as an eccentric uncle.

With a sigh, Hikaru stood up and headed toward the bedroom. He had places to go; it would probably be a good idea to have a bag packed for going there. And then? He had a lesson to give at some middle-schooler's house. It didn't rack up money like titles did, and he really had slacked off since moving in with Akira and Akari, but it was part of the game, and it paid the bills until something bigger and better could.

Hikaru's heart was still racing as he came back from Osaka. The train ride back to his house was uneventful, but every turn of the car seemed miraculous, every cloud he glimpsed in the sky was majestic, and every twitch of his fingers was the setting of another move he hadn't had to make after his opponent resigned and left him as a title holder. Hikaru knew he must look strange to the people around him because he kept laughing to himself about everything, and even on the Shinjuku line that was considered odd behavior.

He got off at his station with his overnight bag and a garment bag twined in one hand and slung over his shoulder. He intended to walk tall and proud all the way to the house, but he kept stopping to admire everything around him, still awed by how much things seemed to have changed now that he had won a tournament, even if it was a smallish one for under-25's. When he finally got to his block, he took a deep breath and charged ahead, intent on walking into the house tall and proud, but as he got to the sidewalk outside the house, he froze. He took a moment to examine his thoughts and smiled. It wasn't just Akira's place anymore. He hadn't thought of it much with everything else going on, but he wasn't going to suddenly move back to his parents' house now that Akari was moving out.

Hearing the front door open, Hikaru looked up and saw Akira staring at him with one raised eyebrow. "Are you going to stand out there all day or come inside and rub it in?"

Laughing, Hikaru jogged to the door. "I'm moving in," he said with a grin.

Akira's brows furrowed and he lifted a hand of Hikaru's forehead. "Did you get into an accident on the way here?"

Closing the door with his foot and dropping his bags, Hikaru wrapped his arms around Akira and spun him around once, laughing harder as Akira struggled in his grip. "Nope! I'm just not leaving."

Finding his footing, Akira stared at Hikaru, his fingers clutching tightly at Hikaru's shoulders. "You're not?"

"No." Hikaru shook his head. "I don't think I was even thinking about it until just now, but after all of this? I mean, I knew I wasn't moving back in with my parents, but I hadn't even thought of the other options. But I can't just leave."

Akira smirked. "It was my mother's pancakes wasn't it?"

Hikaru leaned in closer so this his forehead brushed against Akira's own. "Not even close."

Letting one hand slide into Hikaru's hair, Akira smiled. "Good," he said and pressed his lips against Hikaru's. Hikaru groaned and pulled Akira closer, moving them both so that he had Akira pressed against the wall of the entryway. Akira clutched his hair more firmly and pulled Hikaru's head back and moved his lips to Hikaru's neck, attacking the cord of muscle that trailed along the side and pressing his lips against Hikaru's pulse point. Hikaru groaned and moved his hands down to trail over Akira's ass.

"Oh!" Hikaru froze, his head still thrown backward. "Should we leave you boys alone for a little while longer?"

Akira pressed his face against Hikaru's shoulder. "Hello, Mother."

Taking a very deep breath to try to calm himself, Hikaru moved his hands off of Akira and turned. "Sorry about that."

Akira pushed himself off of the wall and cleared his throat. "We were celebrating Hikaru's title win."

Akari stepped forward. "That's nice and all, but I really need to use the toilet!" She shoved past Hikaru and toed off her shoes to leave them piled one on top of the other in the entryway and then ran into the house.

Smiling, Akiko closed the door. "Make sure to compliment her obi. I believe she feels awkward wearing it, but it is a very good thing to keep her stomach warm."

Hikaru nodded. "I will." He cleared his throat and took off his shoes, taking a moment to straighten up Akari's as well.

"Congratulations on your win, by the way. Akari-chan was telling me all about it. Well, as much as an old go player's wife needs to know."

Akira gestured toward the living room. "Shall we sit down?"

Akiko raised her eyebrows. "I thought that you boys might like a little alone time. I can amuse myself for an hour."

Biting his lip, Hikaru stared at Akiko for a moment, then grabbed Akira's hand. "We'll see you in a while then!" He pulled Akira behind him up to their room, ignoring the few token protests that Akira bothered to mutter, only pausing a moment as they saw Akari exiting the bathroom to tell her that the obi was, indeed, very nice.

"You're sure that you don't want me to come with you?" Hikaru reached out and let his hand touch Akari's elbow. "I still haven't been to any of your appointments."

Akari shook her head. "No. Um, Toshinori's taking me." She seemed reluctant to meet Hikaru's gaze.

"Wh... What?" Hikaru let his hand drop. "Akari-"

"I..." Akari shook her head. "I don't want to interfere with your life. You have Akira-kun."

"Don't I have you, too?"

Smiling suddenly, Akari looked directly at Hikaru. "Not like that. For that, I have Toshinori. At least, that's where it seems to be going."

Hikaru scowled. "He isn't good enough for you."

"Since when?" Akari stuck out her tongue. "He's wonderful to me. I know you're not great friends with him like you are with Waya-kun and Isumi-kun, but he's always there for me."

Hikaru scowled. "And I'm not?"

"Hikaru! It isn't like that, and you know it." Akari moved closer to Hikaru and put a hand on each of his shoulders. "This isn't about you. This is about me and making the choices that I need to make to be happy and healthy. Toshinori makes me feel like a princess every day, and he doesn't seem to care that the little boy inside of me isn't his. If that's good enough for me, why can't it be enough for you?"

Hikaru pulled away from her and walked toward the living room, not surprised that Akari followed and sat down in the chair beside him. "It's my kid," Hikaru said suddenly. "I should be involved in his life more than Honda."

Akari laughed. "Hikaru, I really appreciate that you want to be a part of his life." She smoothed down the obi over her slightly bulging stomach. "But, you don't have to. I didn't put you down on the form as the father."

"You didn't?" Hikaru frowned. "Then who did you put?"

"I left it blank. I didn't want to give you any obligations." Akari laughed, but it came out strained. "There's a part of me that keeps expecting you to tell me that you don't want to be involved at all, and then you keep doing all of these things that make me want to tell you that you're getting too involved. I don't want to say that you shouldn't be a part of your child's life, but we've got to figure out something because I think that what you're looking for and what I'm looking for are two different things."

"I..." Hikaru looked down at his knees. "What kind of person would I be if I hardly had anything to do with my child?"

Akari sniffled and reached into her pocket for a handkerchief. "Hikaru, would it be that bad to just play the role of doting uncle? I know you want to show off this child to your mother and Akira-kun's mother as the grandchild they thought they'd never get, but what kind of confusion is that going to cause for him?"

"So I'm being selfish again?" Hikaru leaned back against the couch and sighed. "I can't win, can I?"

"Does everything have to be about winning and losing?" Akari wiped at her eyes. "Nothing is set in stone right now. But I'm moving out in a few days and things are going to change then whether we like it or not. But the crazy thing? I'm looking forward to it. Everything had changed in the last six months and when I look at how it is now compared to how it was then, things are better. And when I look ahead to what the future could bring, I'm excited, and it isn't because you're so willing to give me money, but because I'm going to have a little boy who is probably going to be just like you and I'm going to do it and everything else on my own terms. I don't mind your input, but I can't really see a way around this."

"You're that happy?"

"I am." Akari smiled. "I've spent years following along with everyone else's dreams for me. My mother, you... This is the first time I've made a real decision about my life and I appreciate you and Akira-kun and everyone else for helping me to make it all happen, whether you realized this was what was going to happen or not."

Hikaru leaned forward again and reached a hand out to brush Akari's wrist. "I'm losing you, aren't I?"

"You're not," Akari said as she blinked back tears. "No more than I lost you to go or to Akira-kun. But you've always been on a different path than I have, and that's okay."

Pausing with his fingers just brushing the back of her hand, Hikaru smiled. "You should get going if you don't want to miss your appointment."

"Are you... Will you be okay?" Akari clutched his hand suddenly and smiled at him.

"I need to think," he said. "I just need to get used to being an uncle, I guess."

Akari pulled him into a hug. "It isn't because I don't love you, you know."

"I'm sorry it all turned out like this," he whispered against her shoulder, tugging her into an even tighter embrace.

She pulled away and stroked his hair in a gesture that struck him as the kind of thing his mother would do. "I'm not sorry at all." She stood up and smoothed down her shirt again. "Do you want to go shopping with me on Monday for things for my new apartment?"

"I have a teaching session that morning," he said as he stood up beside her. "But I can go after that." He smiled. "You really just want someone to carry all of the heavy things, right?"

Akari snapped her fingers. "Darn! You found me out." She stuck out her tongue. "If I just wanted someone to carry things, I could ask Toshinori. I want to spend some time with you. I want you to be part of my life and our kid's life, just maybe not as 'Dad'."

Hikaru smiled. "You got it. I'll get my credit card ready."

"I'm looking forward to it." Akari glanced down at her watch and blanched. "Okay, I'm really going now. I was going to meet Toshinori for a snack before my appointment, but I think I'll be doing good to get to the appointment on time! Bye!" She ran off and Hikaru smiled after her, even if the expression didn't quite convey all of his feelings.

"This one?" Hikaru held up the package of curtains for Akari to see. She nodded and he tossed it in their shopping cart. "You know, I'm not certain you should go with a jungle animals theme. I'm sure you could get a-"

"I am not doing a go-themed nursery." Akari smirked. "You are so predictable."

"Akari! That's not even what I was going to say." Hikaru crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh? Then what?" Akari looked at him expectantly.

Hikaru opened his mouth, but scowled a moment later. "Bunnies."

"You're predictable." Akari laughed as Hikaru tickled her side. "Stop it!" She shoved his hands away and picked up a box from the shelf beside her. "Do you like this mobile?"

"I think the one with the birds is cuter."

Akari looked between the two. "Do you really think so? I like the other animals."

"They're cute, too," Hikaru assured her, "but how many other things are you choosing that actually have birds on them? You don't want the kid thinking that birds are in Tokyo but not in the jungle."

With a grin, Akari placed the bird mobile in the cart. "You don't always make sense, but I guess that makes enough sense to count."

"I am wounded!" Hikaru took control of the shopping cart and pushed it toward the next aisle. "Come on. We have to choose bath towels and bedding and clothes and diapers." He turned to Akari. "Are you doing the reusable ones or disposable?"

Akari grimaced. "I still need to research. I have time left, you know!"

"What's there to research? One involves more trash and one involves more laundry. Which would you rather deal with?"

"It isn't that simple, Hikaru." Akari picked up a folded towel with little yellow ducks printed on it. "Oh, this is so cute!" She looked to Hikaru. "This reminds me of that little stuffed duck you bought."

Hikaru scratched at the back of his head. "Yeah, well, there aren't any ducks in the jungle, are there?"

"Do you think it matters that much?" Akari grabbed two more of the towels and added the stack into the cart. "Love. That's what matters."

"Ducks aren't love."

"But they can be an expression of love." Akari picked up a handful of matching washcloths and tossed them in the cart and then moved on to the various soaps and lotions and creams. "Kids love unconditionally, you know."

"Then what does it matter what kind of nursery you have?" Hikaru leaned on the shopping cart, grinning. "Just make it something you like?"

Akari grinned. "Who says I'm not?" She twisted the cap on a bottle of baby shampoo and then twisted it back. "I like ducks and jungle animals and the color green."

"You're adorable," Hikaru said and leaned forward to grab the shampoo from her hand and then shoved it back on the shelf. "Leave the cheap stuff for other people to buy as gifts for you."

She pouted. "I want to have everything ready."

"Are you nesting already?" Hikaru laughed. "Fine. Get a small one of everything, then. And if things happen and you need more and no one else buys it all for you, then I will come back and get twelve of everything."

Akari picked up a small box and placed it in the cart. "There. That one is a little of everything, but not too much. I'm going to hold you to what you just said, though. If I need diapers at two in the morning, I'll be happy to send you out after them."

Hikaru blanched. "Maybe we should just start shopping once a week and pick up a box every time."

"You're overreacting." Akari laughed. "But this is a lot of fun."

Picking up a fitted bed sheet from the shelf that matched the curtains they'd already chosen, Hikaru tossed it in the cart. "I want to keep doing this, even after he's born. Crazy Uncle Hikaru will spoil him rotten."

Putting one hand on Hikaru's shoulder and the other over her stomach, Akari smiled softly. "And he'll love crazy Uncle Hikaru even without that."

Hikaru smiled tersely. "I hope so." He shook his head suddenly. "I'm not sure I can do this."

Akari stepped back, her hand sliding off of Hikaru to rest at her side. "Think about it. Kids don't understand things like adults do."

"They don't have to," Hikaru said softly. "I just can't bear to think about telling him later, or never telling him at all, that he has a father who cares for him."

"Do you want to explain why you're not there, then?" Akari's brow furrowed and she looked into the cart that overflowed with bright colors.

"Yeah, I do." Hikaru shrugged when Akari looked at him. "I spent some time thinking about it, you know. And I don't want to only show up when it's convenient. I want to get saddled with babysitting when I already had plans, and I want to buy diapers like I used to buy Shonen Jump, and I want that kid to know that he has more people who love him than he could ever remember. I want to bring him into the Room of Profound Darkness and let him crawl around and I want him to puke on Ogata at least once." He tossed his head back. "It's unconventional, I know. But isn't that what keeps working for us?"

Akari closed her eyes tightly and grinned, even as she wiped at the tears that started to leak out. "That sounds kind of amazing, you know."

"We'll make it work, Akari. Because then, even if your mom and dad never come around, he'll still have grandparents to shower him with all of the things he doesn't need, and he'll have me and Akira and you... And maybe he'll have Honda, too."

She looked up again, her smile twisted by emotion. "And you really think that could work?"

"I'll make it work." Hikaru stood tall, his mouth just curving into a grin. "When have I ever failed you?"

Nodding slowly, Akari asked, "And if you do fail?"

"Then our kid will be surrounded by enough people who love him that someone else will pick up the slack. But I won't fail."

Akari lifted one hand and brought her index finger to rest against the center of Hikaru's chest. "I'm going to put my trust in you. And I'm going to be paranoid about it for a long time because you have let me down before, even if it has been a few years. But we're going to do this, and I guess we're going to do it together."

Hikaru grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. "You're not going to regret this." He laughed. "Now, come on. The rest of the store isn't going to buy itself and we still need to pick up stuff for you!" He dragged her down the aisle, and she followed willingly.

"I resign," Hikaru said firmly and glared at the go ban in front of him.

Akira held out his hand over the pattern of black and white that had suddenly swung just enough in his favor toward the end of chuuban that Hikaru hadn't been able to overcome it. "It was a good game," he said as Hikaru shook his hand.

"You'd better actually win Gosei now," Hikaru said and let go so he could lean back against his hands. "I don't want to be the only one of us with a title."

Akira stood up, taking the jacket he'd struggled out of in yose with him and shrugging back into it. "You won't," he said with a raised eyebrow. "Want to go grab some tea?"

Hikaru glanced around at the reporters and recorders and other officials in the room. "Nope. I've got something else planned."

"Oh?"

"You could come with me if you wanted." Hikaru stood up and stretched his arms over his head. "There's enough time to get through interviews first, but then there's a class I want to take."

Akira looked confused. "What kind of class?"

"Changing Diapers For Dummies?" Hikaru laughed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I don't want to be unprepared."

Opening his mouth to respond, Akira suddenly laughed. "We'll do that. But, first? Interviews. It's a part of the job, right?"

Hikaru stuck out his tongue at Akira and looked up in surprise when a flash bulb lit up. He grinned as Amano-san smiled over the top of his camera and moved over to put his arm around Akira's shoulder and posed with his fingers outstretched in a 'V'. Akira elbowed him. "You didn't have the victory, stupid."

"So?" Hikaru withdrew his 'V', but kept the arm around Akira's neck. "I still got the first title."

"But I'm going to get the better one." Akari smiled for the camera and Amano snapped the picture.

"Doesn't matter," Hikaru said and moved his arms, lacing his fingers behind his head. "I'm still happy."

Akira looked down at the board. "Really? You were happy with that game?"

Grimacing, Hikaru looked down at the board as well. "Well, happy isn't quite the word there. Satisfied? It was a good game, but I didn't win it. Next time, though."

Sighing, Akira said, "You're going to make me replay this tonight, aren't you?"

Hikaru's mouth dropped open. "What? I wouldn't do that to you! We have plans! Besides, you know you'll want to go over it tomorrow anyway because you're already starting to doubt whether you could have played better around that false eye."

Akira rolled his eyes. "Remind me why I put up with you."

"I'm kind of curious about that myself." Hikaru laughed. "Come on. Let's finish this up and we can grab something quick at that oden cart a few blocks over."

"You're starting to grow up, aren't you?" Akira smiled. "Well, I can't say no to the Ramen King offering me oden."

"You beat me. You're paying." Hikaru paused. "I think Kurata is the Ramen King, really. I'll be Ramen Prince, though."

"Ramen Prince it is."

"She was supposed to call me, Akira." Hikaru hit the speed dial for Akari again and held the phone to his ear, tapping his foot as the phone rang and then sent him to voicemail. He hung up and huffed out a breath. "Something's wrong. She knows that she's supposed to call me."

Akira took a sip of water from his drinking glass and pulled his knees up further on the couch as he looked at a book about modern Korean go strategy. "She forgot to put on a bra before she came over here last time, but you expect her to remember to call you?"

Hikaru slumped down in a chair. "The fact that she is, like, 34 weeks pregnant and hadn't had any problems despite everything saying that she should have problems is making me paranoid. I know it. But your constant focus on Akari's boobs worries me, too."

"What?" Akira set his glass down and hastily wiped a few drops of water from the pages of the book. "I do not focus on Akari-chan's breasts!"

"But you can tell people her bra size!" Hikaru frowned.

"I can't anymore! They're bigger now!" Akira glared at Hikaru, then cleared his throat as he looked away. "Look, everyone has them. Breasts are nice. I'm not going to pretend that Akari-chan has some mystical black hole in the center of her chest."

Hikaru stood up again and moved so that he was sitting on the couch, pinning Akira's legs behind him. "So, do you like my breasts?"

Akira lifted one hand and ran it along Hikaru's chest, smiling. "I think you know the answer to that."

Lifting the book from Akira's lap, Hikaru placed it upside down on the coffee table and turned his attention back to Akira, lifting his other hand and kissing the back of it as he moved to kneel on top of the other man. "You like mine better, right?"

"Do I need to prove it?" Akira tugged Hikaru's shirt out from the top of his pants and moved both of his hands to trail up Hikaru's abdomen, only stopping once they reached Hikaru's chest, one hand settling on each side. His fingers flicked each of Hikaru's nipples and Akira smirked as Hikaru groaned and rubbed himself against Akira's leg.

Hikaru licked his lips. "Yeah, prove it."

Akira struggled to pull himself up further on the couch and Hikaru helped him, even taking a moment to take his shirt off and send it flying across the room. Akira pulled a pillow behind his back and leaned forward, taking one of Hikaru's nipples into his mouth and suckling gently, letting his teeth and tongue come into play as Hikaru steadied his arms against the arm of the couch. The doorbell rang and Hikaru started to pull away, but Akira shook his head. "Whoever it is, they'll go away," he said and moved toward Hikaru's other nipple, his eyes closing as he pulled Hikaru's chest toward him.

The room seemed to grow warmer despite the chill that had run down Hikaru's spine when he took off his shirt. He wondered with the one small shard of his brain that was unaffected by Akira's ministrations whether there was actually a draft in the house, or merely an inability in himself to process all of the sensations that the other man seemed to awaken in him.

"Uh-" Hikaru jerked toward the noise behind him and let out a hiss. He slapped one hand over his nipple, scraped as it was from the tight grasp of Akira's teeth, and fell back against the couch. "Sorry for our bad timing!"

"Honda-" Hikaru winced as he continued to hold one hand tightly against his chest. "Akari. Why are you guys here?"

Akari cleared her throat. "Do you want to put on a shirt first?"

"I am in pain, Akari. I'm not going to put on a shirt." Hikaru frowned as Akira placed a throw pillow in his lap and started to push it away. "What do I need that-" He gulped at the look Akira gave him and pulled the pillow back down to cover the bulge in his pants. "Right. Okay." He looked back at Akari. "I repeat: why are you here?"

Holding up a key, Akari placed it on the small table near the entryway. "First, I'm returning that. Second?" She held up her hand.

"Huh?" Hikaru looked her over. "Did you get your blood drawn again?"

Rolling her eyes, Akari pointed to her hand and Hikaru watched as Honda wrapped his arm around her shoulders and smiled at her. "We're engaged!" Hikaru finally noticed the ring on her finger, small but sparkling.

"That's wonderful. Congratulations!" Akira said as he pressed down the pillow in his own lap.

Hikaru stood up, taking the pillow with him and still rubbing at his chest, and approached the pair. "Honda... Come with me to the kitchen for a minute."

Toshinori's eyes widened. "Uh, okay." He slipped out of his shoes and followed Hikaru in socked feet. "Are you sure you don't want to put a shirt on first?"

"Hey, you guys are the reason I'm in pain. You can deal with me half-naked for a little while." Hikaru leaned back against the kitchen counter. "You know what I'm going to say, right?"

"Don't hurt her?"

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "More than just that. That part is obvious. Don't hurt her, don't take her for granted, don't try to keep me from being a part of her life, don't teach our child to do second-hand tengen, don't give him a bowl cut, and do not, under any circumstances, teach him that ramen is in any way inferior to soba."

"I thought you would be a little more harsh than that, considering the circumstances," Toshinori said, gesturing to Hikaru's chest.

"You make her happy." Hikaru let his hand drop finally, though he still clutched the pillow. "I know you're a good guy. I just need to make sure you stay that way. We're doing something here that's a little weird, I know, but we're gonna be strong because it's what's best for everyone." He took a deep breath. "If you came here looking for permission from someone, you've got it. Just, I don't know, try to get married before she has this kid? I don't even know if that's possible, but it would at least look right on paper if she's married by then."

Toshinori nodded. "I'm going to pay you back, you know, for everything you gave her."

Hikaru snorted. "No, you're not. That was all a gift. You're also going to accept every other gift I give you guys for that kid because he's mine even if he'll be on your family register, and because Akari is my best friend, and because you're pretty okay yourself. I'm not going to stop making money any time soon, but neither is our kid going to stop needing things."

"You keep saying 'our' kid." Toshinori grinned. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"Well, yeah." Hikaru scratched the back of his head and smiled. "He's gonna be with you guys most of the time, I know, but I'm not going to abandon him because it's more convenient or something. I couldn't live with myself. So we'll share like mature adults."

Toshinori gestured to Hikaru's chest again. "Speaking of mature, I guess we'll let you get back to your, uh, game?"

Hikaru frowned as he looked down at his chest and noticed the teeth marks along his nipple. "It was a much better game before you guys showed up. Next time, knock first!"

"We rang the bell and no one answered, but Akari wanted to leave the key." Toshinori laughed. "Are you getting sympathy forgetfulness?"

"Get out of here and don't let me see you until the next oteai!" Hikaru stalked back into the living room and moved over to Akari where she was sitting on one of the chairs in the living room, giving her a quick hug. "Once again, congrats. You may leave now." He stuck his tongue out as Akari stood up.

Akari turned to Akira and pointed to him. "Remember to kiss it all better, okay?" She waved at Hikaru and moved to put her shoes back on. She and Toshinori left a moment later, leaving Hikaru in stunned silence.

"She has some good ideas, you know," Akira said, pulling the pillow off of Hikaru's lap and tossing it on the floor. His lips pressed softly against the scrape marks and Hikaru sucked in a sharp gasp. "Does that actually hurt?"

Hikaru frowned. "Yes." His expression brightened. "You can still touch the other side, though."

"I don't know..."

Taking matters into his own hands, Hikaru shoved Akira back down on the couch and crawled on top of him. "You don't need to know anything. Just kiss me." He leaned down and captured Akira's mouth with his own, and was pleased not to be interrupted by anyone's protests, especially Akira's own.

"Christmas?!" Hikaru ran his hand through his hair. "What if people have plans?"

Akari rubbed the heel of her hand over her stomach and took a few deep breaths. "It's going to be during the day. You can have Akira-kun all to yourself that night. You wouldn't really miss my wedding, would you?"

Hikaru sighed and looked down at his soda. "Only out of spite."

"Spite? Why?"

"Because you can get married and I can't?" Hikaru jabbed his straw into his drink a few times.

Akari shifted in her seat and took a sip of her water. "Oh, boy. One thing I get to do that you can't. I can't walk around without my shirt off."

Hikaru groaned. "Why would you even want to?"

"These hurt, Hikaru!" Akari grimaced and moved in her seat again. "Everything hurts. Some people act like pregnancy is nothing but looking radiant. I beg to differ."

"All those extra bodily functions?"

"Hikaru!" Akari scowled. "That is part of the reason. Yes. But, everything is uncomfortable. I need help standing up from a comfortable chair now."

Hikaru elbowed her lightly. "But people move to let you sit on the train, right?"

Akari took another sip of her water. "Okay, so that's nice. I have to wear a little tag to let people know, though, since I don't look that big in most of my clothes. Anyway, back to the wedding. We're going to register the day before and then it's just going to be a little civil ceremony with a few people. I wondered if you might invite your parents and maybe Akira-kun's as well? And, of course, there are people that Toshinori wants to invite, and his parents. And you and Akira-kun, of course."

"Yeah, just a few people." Hikaru snorted. "I'll call Mom in a little while, but Akira can call his parents and see. I don't even know what country they're in right now."

Rubbing her stomach again, Akari took a few more deep breaths. "Thanks."

Hikaru looked at her for a long moment. "Are you sure you're going to make it that long?"

"This is just false labor." She squirmed on the chair again. "I'm not due until the 10th of next month and my doctor doesn't think I'm going to go early, so I will make it." She gritted the last words out between clenched teeth.

"Just don't make that face at the ceremony and you'll be okay." Hikaru sipped his soda and smiled at Akari. "You're going to be a beautiful bride and then a beautiful mother."

Akari relaxed back against the seat. "Thank you. Now if I can just manage to not be huge on my wedding day..."

"You're not going to be huge, or at least not much bigger than you are now and you're about to pop. But that doesn't mean you won't be beautiful."

Heaving a sigh, Akari sat forward and eased herself to a standing position by leaning on the table and chair. "Okay, that's about as much socializing as I can stand today. I'm going to head back to the apartment and take a nap."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Hikaru stood up next to her.

Akari shook her head. "You bought lunch. Isn't that enough?"

Hikaru scowled. "You'll call me if anything happens, right?"

Pressing herself against his side, Akari grinned. "Yes, Papa."

"Akari!" He cleared his throat. "I do have one more question."

"Oh?"

Hikaru hestitated a moment. "Do you want me to tell your parents?"

Akari's shoulders sagged, but she stood straight a moment later. "No. It's a day for celebration. I haven't changed my number and neither of my parents have tried to call me, so I'm going to move on with my life and stop waiting for something that's probably never going to come." Hikaru smiled at her for a long while and she touched her face. "Do I have food on me or something?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Just admiring you."

She stuck out her tongue, then glanced toward the back of the restaurant. "You know, maybe I'll use the bathroom before I leave. Will you hold my bag?"

Hikaru took her proferred purse and smiled after her.

Smoothing down his tie, Hikaru glanced back at Akari as she struggled to zip her dress up the last few centimeters. "Can I at least help with that?"

She groaned. "Yes, fine." She grimaced and rubbed her stomach as she walked toward Hikaru. "I wonder if I can get through the ceremony without making funny faces after all."

Hikaru tugged the zipper up and turned her necklace so the clasp was centered above the zipped of the dress. "Have you been timing them?"

Akari turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "I still have weeks to go."

"You never know, Akari!"

"I had a doctor's appointment a few days ago and I wasn't dialated at all yet."

Hikaru shook his head and grimaced. "Don't start talking about your mucous plug. Please."

Akari rolled her eyes. "And you think you're ready for changing diapers."

"I took a class on that!" Hikaru smiled. "I am confident in my ability to change a dirty diaper. But not to deal with icky girl stuff."

"You dealt with icky girl stuff just fine nine months ago," Akari said with a grin.

Hikaru frowned. "Ugh. Don't remind me. I still haven't gotten all the cooties off."

Akari laughed and leaned over to hug Hikaru. "Nope! You will never be rid of my-" Akari stopped suddenly.

Hikaru closed his eyes. "Akari? Please tell me that the room just flooded."

Sinking to the floor while holding on to Hikaru's leg, Akari started to breath heavily. "My water just-"

"I got it!" Hikaru helped Akari stand and moved her to one of the chairs in the room. "I'm going to go tell Honda and we're going to get you to the hospital, okay?" Akari nodded and let herself be deposited in the chair without any more conversation. Hikaru looked at her over his shoulder while he dashed from the room and past the chairs in the banquet hall to where Toshinori was standing. "It's time," he said and pulled Toshinori with him.

"What?" Toshinori stumbled and Hikaru pulled him harder.

"She's on your registry, so you're married now, and your wife's water just broke!" Hikaru shoved Toshinori toward the room where he could hear Akari breathing heavily even through the door. "Wait!" He grasped on to Toshinori's shoulder. "Do I just call Aiiku? Do we just take her there on the train? Do I call an ambulance?"

Toshinori held on to the handle of the door in front of him and turned to Hikaru slowly. "I... I don't know?"

Hikaru groaned. "Get Akari. I'll figure something out."

Akira moved to Hikaru's side. "Is something wrong?"

"Akari's water broke and we need to get her to her maternity hospital." Hikaru glanced around the room. "We're not too far from Minato-ku..." Hikaru smiled. "And I think I just found our way there. Ogata-san!"

Hikaru took a sip of his juice and looked at Akira for a moment. "Is it bad that I don't care at all that Akari totally ruined Ogata's back seat?"

"Akari-chan does," Akira said softly.

"She's having a baby right now. I doubt she's going to think about it anytime soon." Hikaru laughed. "But the look on his face!"

Akira cocked his head toward the doorway. "Shouldn't you be in there?"

Hikaru sat back. "Nah. I think Honda would fall to pieces if someone else was in there to talk to. It's a good thing Waya and Isumi agreed to help break everything down at the banquet hall or else he'd be clinging on to one of them."

"Isn't he your friend?" Akari raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah." Hikaru chuckled. "But he's a father now. He's got to learn how to hold up under pressure." He glanced toward the waiting room. "Maybe that'll help him in go, too."

"It couldn't hurt." Akira stood up and stretched his arms above his head. "You're doing a pretty good job of handling things."

Hikaru kicked his feet out in front of him. "Yeah, well, I'm a title-holder now."

"Brat," Akira said and kicked one of Hikaru's feet.

"Do you think anyone could have ever forseen us getting here?" Hikaru took a long sip of his juice, draining the last drops from the can as he looked to Akira for an answer.

Akira shook his head. "Two years ago, I couldn't have forseen you telling me you were interested, so maybe I'm not the person to ask."

"Hmm." Hikaru smiled, then sat forward as he saw someone walk toward them. "Hey, Mom. What's up?"

Mitsuko sat down beside him and smiled. "How does it feel to be a father?"

"Huh?"

"It's a healthy boy. 212 grams and 47 centimeters!" Mitsuko put her arm around her son and smiled.

Hikaru squeezed the can in his hand, crushing it. "That was... That was fast, wasn't it?"

"There's every chance that she was in labor for most of the day, you know."

"Huh?" Hikaru shook his head. "That's stupid. Why would anyone do that?"

Mitsuko put one hand on top of Hikaru's head and ruffled his hair. "I think it's pretty clear that you're never going to understand women." She took a deep breath. "When you have something important in front of you, don't you do everything possible to keep it from getting ruined?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Hikaru trailed off and looked at the dented can in his hand. "She just wanted to look beautiful on her wedding day."

Mitsuko nodded. "I think you'll find that there are more pressing matters on her mind, now."

Akira sat down again. "I'm dating a father."

Hikaru snorted. "Does that mean I get to adopt you now?"

"I thought we agreed we weren't doing that."

Hikaru shook his head. "We're not. Because that's still weird. But, man. Family is a complicated thing, isn't it?"

Mitsuko nudged her son. "You know that your family loves you, right?"

"Even though Dad is sitting at a bar right now drinking his way to the bottom of a bottle of sake?" Hikaru grinned. "I know. Not everyone would get to go through this with as little hassle as I have. Even Akari didn't. Have... Have you spoken to her parents at all recently?"

"I saw her mother at the market the other day. We didn't exchange words, though. I don't intend to tell her anything, and if she asks, then I'll tell her to give her daughter a call."

"You're awesome, Mom." Hikaru smiled. "So, what do I do now?"

Mitsuko shrugged. "I couldn't say. Your situation is a bit unique. But, I would think you would want to see your child."

Hikaru nodded. "I do! I just..." He shook his head. "I don't think I can yet."

Akira checked his watch. "Visiting hours started already if that's what you're waiting on."

"No-" Hikaru cleared his throat. "Honda is going on record as his father. I'm kind of the back-up father. I can wait."

"Are you sure?" Mitsuko ruffled his hair again and Hikaru ducked out from under her hand this time.

"No." Hikaru looked at Akira and took his hand briefly, squeezing it before letting it fall back against his thigh. "I'm not sure about anything right now. But I'm going to make it work."

Mitsuko patted her son's knee and then looked past him to Akira. "Akira-kun, your parents are in there, too. Would you like me to send them out there to see you?"

Akira shook his head. "I'll see them in a bit. I think I'll just stay with Hikaru a bit longer if no one minds. I appreciate my parents flying back for this, but I can't just leave Hikaru alone."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "I'm a big boy, guys."

Mitsuko laughed. "I suppose that's one way of putting it."

It was later that evening that Hikaru knocked on the door and let himself in to Akari's room after getting approval from her nurse. "Hey."

Akari looked up at him, smiling sleepily. "Hey."

"So, we've got a baby." Hikaru gestured to the infant wrapped up in a blanket, nestled in Akari's arms.

"We do." Akari smiled and stroked a finger across the hat the baby boy wore. "The nurses and midwives all think he looks just like me."

"Well, that's probably a good thing." Hikaru laughed. "So, married with a baby. How's it feel?"

Akari exhaled sharply. "Exhausting." She looked at their child again, her smile spreading wide across her face. "But, worth it. Do you want to hold him?"

"Won't that wake him up?" Hikaru's hands twitched toward the boy anyway.

"The nurses are still coming in all the time. He doesn't stay asleep for very long." Akari yawned. "I don't either."

"I'll stay until he wakes up, then." Hikaru smiled. "Have you figured out what you want to name him, then?"

"Well, obviously you get to have an opinion there, too." Akari yawned again, but kept her eyes on the little boy. "What do you think of Teruo?"

"Honda Teruo?" Hikaru nodded, watcheing Akari with their child. "I like it. He'll be a handful for you, won't he?"

"That's what I've got everyone around to help for, isn't it? So Toshinori can massage my feet and you can buy diapers at two in the morning." Akari yawned again. "Okay, maybe you should take him just so I don't drop him."

"What? No!" But Hikaru found himself taking the few short steps to Akari's bedside and holding out his arms. "Okay, fine. I'll take him."

Between them, they moved the infant to Hikaru's arms without jostling him too much and Hikaru was suddenly very glad about the parenting classes he'd gone to with Akira, even if they'd gotten strange looks at times. Holding the boy carefully and moving him toward his own chest, Hikaru felt his eyes start to well with tears. "He really is beautiful, isn't he?" He looked up, but Akari was already asleep. Hikaru smiled and let one hand come up to palm the infant's skull. "Honda Teruo. You're destined for greatness. You've got a bunch of people who love you already, but I'm going to love you the most, okay?" He carefully sat back down in the chair and curled his arm protectively around his son. "In two years, we're going to start teaching you go. Well, maybe three. We'll see how much you want to eat the stones at two."

The room was quiet except for Akari's even breathing and the little gurgles that Teruo was making. Hikaru watched his son sleep and tried to imagine what life down the road might be like. But, this wasn't like go. He couldn't plot out the moves in his head and see where everything was going to lead. And that, in a way, was a proposition even more exciting than go.

Teruo awoke then, whining softly and pushing his hands against the blanket. Hikaru made soft noises at him that he hoped were comforting and stroked one finger along Teruo's cheek. "Hi," he said, almost in a whisper. "I'm your father who causes a lot of mischief without even meaning to. We're going to be great friends."

With a sound that Hikaru likened to a giggle, Teruo squirmed in his arms, but settled down against Hikaru's chest, cooing softly. "You and me, buddy." Hikaru let his face relax for a moment, but quickly found himself smiling anew.

Akari passed Teruo to Hikaru and then passed a large diaper bag to Akira. "Are you sure you guys are okay looking after him while I get a haircut?"

Hikaru rolled his eyes and adjusted his grip on Teruo. "I think we can handle an hour of taking him around the Ki-in and letting everyone fall in love with him."

With a hint of mistrust in her eyes, Akari leaned down and kissed Teruo's forehead. "He just ate, but that's no guarantee he won't want more food while I'm gone. And he'll probably need a fresh diaper soon. And, if you feed him, make sure to burp him-"

"Akari!" Hikaru felt up Teruo's hand and pretended to wave it at Akari. "We've got it." He grinned as Teruo's curled his fingers around Hikaru's thumb.

Smiling, Akari left the Ki-in lobby, even though she kept looking back over her shoulder every few steps. When she was finally gone, Hikaru lifted Teruo closer to his face and rubbed his nose against his son's noss. "Hey, buddy. Want to go crawl around somewhere important?"

Akira cleared his throat. "He can't crawl yet."

Hikaru's nose wrinkled. "Oh, yeah. Well, let's hit the museum so he can at least absorb the culture."

"And see the shiny things. I see what kind of parent you are." Akira grinned and hiked the diaper bag onto his shoulder.

"You wound me." Hikaru ran a hand over Teruo's hair where it peeked out from under his hat. "Do you see how mean everyone is to me? You're not going to be like that, will you Teruo?"

Teruo gazed at him for a moment, the connection strong, and then his eyes crossed again and he nuzzled his head against Hikaru's chest.

Akira stroked Teruo's hand where it still curled around Hikaru's thumb. "I think we'll have better luck showing you off to all of the old men upstairs who will try to give you candy."

"What?! You can't give an infant candy!" Hikaru hugged Teruo closer to his chest.

"I wasn't being literal," Akira said, smiling. "But, who knows? This little boy could be the very first crest to rise of a brand new wave that will tower above us all and wash us away into the sand."

"You want the candy, don't you?" Hikaru stuck out his tongue. "That's it, isn't it? You want old men to give my son candy so that you can take it away and eat it yourself."

Sighing, Akira put a hand on Hikaru's shoulder. "You're eventually going to be older than your son, right?"

Hikaru leaned in close to Teruo and whispered, "Don't listen to him. Or your mother and father. Papa is the one who will tell you all of the cool stuff in life. Like, did you know that ghosts are real but they're not scary at all?"

Akira hiked the diaper bag higher on his shoulder and followed Hikaru as he wandered around the Ki-in, babbling to his son about everything and everyone.