Basic disclaimer applies.

Chapter 05 : Misread

Waya Yoshitaka looked at his sighing friend incredulously.

"The heck are you moping around for, Shindou? Didn't you win your match?"

His friend was toying his ramen with his chopsticks, showing little interest in his food. His favorite food. Shindou Hikaru had never not showing interest in ramen.

"Oooi."

Another sigh, then an annoyed glare. "Cut it out Waya! If I want to mope around then I'll mope around as much as I want! Now let me mope around in peace."

"Isumi-san! What's wrong with this boy?" Waya turned to seek Isumi's aid, who sat on his left side. Isumi just smiled good naturedly at his younger friends and shrugged, "No idea, Waya."

"He has been like that since we watched yesterday's match of the Meijin League," Saeki said between his slurping. It was Morishita study-group's unofficial ramen party as the students came out with straight win today. Only Honda was not there because he had no match that day.

"Although we chose ramen specifically because you're looking weird today, what's with this downer mood Shindou?! Even after we managed to drag Young Master Ochi into this; think about his feelings!" Ochi eyed Waya annoyedly for his jabbing, but didn't say anything.

"Ah... right, sorry Ochi," Hikaru tried to sound apologetic to the young pro.

"It's okay, Shindou. Though I hope my presence is not what put you in such mood." Ochi responded calmly while fixing his glasses; it got steamy from the warm broth of the ramen.

After witnessing the Hokuto Cup, Ochi started to be less antagonistic with the rest of his former insei group. Waya said that Ochi was having 'go blues' after witnessing strong opponents in the Hokuto Cup, in which Honda and Saeki reprimand him right after. Isumi was the one that encouraged Ochi to join them. Looks like his respect for Isumi was the one that convinced him to tag along.

"No, it's not! I'm glad we could have ramen together!" as if sobered by his own words, Hikaru's appetite started to pick up. He grabbed his chopsticks and started to dig in himself.

"Well, looks like this slump of yours wasn't permanent," Waya eyed him, still a bit suspicious, "Just don't skip matches like last year's spring again."

"I won't," he answered right away with a razor-sharp tone. Waya shrugged and continued with his own meal.

They had a peaceful time eating before another sigh came from Hikaru. Waya sent him a "What now?" glare.

"You know, I felt like I missed some big opportunities to better myself lately," Hikaru stared off into the distance, "My failures... the current me is not enough."

The shodan pros plus Saeki 3-dan were getting awfully silent at his statement, and Hikaru was starting to eat again nonchalantly. Waya's frown deepened; what was Hikaru talking about? Was it about his loss on the Hokuto Cup? Or his lost to Touya Akira on the latest Wakajishisen?

If he was talking about those, then there should be little to complain about. His losses were by extremely small margin, and they were both amazing games. It really showed how fearful he has become, considering he was playing against monsters. He was undoubtedly the strongest one amongst everyone sitting on the table now, and Waya know the gap would be hard to bridge for a while with Hikaru's always pushing forward mentality.

And yet his friend that was akin to a little brother to him was not satisfied by that. Waya stared at his almost empty ramen bowl; Hikaru was always aimed for bigger goals, bigger picture in mind. And somehow Waya believed he could reach them, as much as his competitive side doesn't want to admit it.

He turned to look at Hikaru.

"Hey, Shindou... what is your goal? Why do you play go?"

Hikaru was still gobbling his ramen when he raised his brow at Waya's question. Waya's stare was expecting and unchanging. He then swallowed and looked somewhat thoughtful.

"The same goal as any professional player: my goal is to play the Divine Move," he stated firmly. This emitted several oohs from his peers; knowing Hikaru's reputation, they're surprised that he even know what Divine Move is. He continued.

"But if you asked me why I play go... it's because I want to connect the far past with the past future."

At this he became contemplative and his eyes hid a degree of sadness and longing. Isumi got a strange deja vu.

It was... almost like that one game where he pulled Hikaru back to the go world.

Waya on the other hand looked lost. Saeki didn't know what to say at Hikaru's profound answer, and Ochi eyed Hikaru with both interest and confusion. It was the first time they heard about his motivations, and... it wasn't what they expected it to be.

And yet, Waya got a strange hunch that Hikaru hasn't said everything.

"What... do you mean by that, Shindou?"

"Ah, well you see, I really admire Honinbou Shuusaku," he grinned sheepishly. "I learned a lot from him and I wanted to preserve his legacy somehow... so! I figured out that my next step is-"

Before he could finish his sentences, the shop's door slides open and a thundering "Shindou Hikaru!" booming through the shop. Hikaru jumped from his seat and looking for the person who called his name. Saeki was pounding his chest, trying his best to get rid of the noodles off the wrong pipe, and Isumi dropped his chopsticks to his bowl, splashing some of the oily broth to the table surface.

When they saw the voice's source, their mouth hung open.

"Kuwabara Honinbou?!"

The Honinbou didn't look like his usual mischievous self. His wrinkled forehead got more depth from his frown, and his single opened eye watched the blond Shodan like an eagle. He got his usual hunched posture with hands behind his back, but the boys knew the Honinbou was pissed. Or enraged.

What had Hikaru possibly done to make the Honinbou out for his blood? They held their breath when the title-holder opened his mouth.

"If you still wish to learn things from me, follow me."

Leaving his words hanging in the air, Kuwabara turned around and left the shop. Some of the customers whispered to each other, some peered at the opened door with annoyed faces. Hikaru himself looked confused at first, but as soon as the words registered in his head, his eyes brightened with delight and excitement. He turned to his friends quickly, muttered an apology and said he'll pay for his share later, and dashed out of the shop-supposedly chasing after the Honinbou.

The rest of the Morishita study group plus Ochi were left speechless and in shock. They then exchanged looks at each other, trying to confirm their thoughts, and all hell broke loose.

Shindou is going to learn under Kuwabara Honinbou...?!

"Kuwabara-sensei!" Hikaru caught up to the old man who was walking down the sidewalk, undisturbed and facing forward. "Sensei... did you mean it?" he walked slowly beside the shorter man.

"Do you want me to take it back, boy?" Kuwabara snapped. Hikaru gulped. The old man was in an awful mood today.

"But why?" Hikaru went on without care, and the old man was on the verge of kicking thein boy in the shin again, "Didn't I..."

Lost. Yes, and according to the condition Kuwabara had set before, he had no obligation to humor the Shodan's request further.

But something caught his attention, and it put him in such awful mood. Their last game.

After recreating the game several times, he finally found it. The path that would grant the boy not victory, but exactly a loss with 6 moku. It involved a complicated exchanges with careful planning, territory calculation, and reading, right until the endgame. An insane feat that required equally insane amount of concentration even for a seasoned pro, and this boy did it instantly.

The Shodan knew that skill and experience wise, he's still not quite on par with his opponent. So he went around and settled for the second best option; a close win by the previously approved condition.

What's getting in the Kuwabara's nerve even more was how he, the Honinbou, prevented it from happening by pure luck and not by his calculation.

A simple misread. A smear on his pride, on his title that he's so proudly wear on his sleeves.

He was angry at himself for not realizing Hikaru's hidden, poisonous dagger sooner. The boy's true untapped potential that the Honinbou always had faith in, ever since he saw him after he got out of the elevator that day.

A sleeping beast.

"Heh. You're one interesting boy, Shindou-kun." Kuwabara managed to pull a small smirk despite his initial anguish. That smirk apparently scared Hikaru since he was visibly backing off. "What? Are you the one who's changing your mind now?"

"Eh... no. You just reminded me of someone, Sensei."

"Reminded you...? Of whom?"

Kuwabara could see sweat forming on the boy's forehead.

"Uhh. No one important, really."

That's one unimpressive lie , Kuwabara said inwardly, looking utterly unconvinced that made Hikaru sweats bullet now.

The boy's shoulder sagged in resignation, "Please do not take this as an offense, Sensei, but for a second... you sounded like Ogata-san."

His displease had to be clear on his face, because it made Hikaru panicked even further.

"Stop. Don't even bother to explain to me." He held his palm to the boy and continued his walk. He understood why the boy might think that way; he knew that the Judan had a weird fascination toward the Shodan. Hikaru was avoiding the man like plague in response, and Kuwabara showing interest in Hikaru's ability might have triggered that defense system as well.

"If it makes you feel better... Sensei, you're not as bad as Ogata-san," he shivered at a memory, "Compared to him, you're much more, er, approachable, Kuwabara-sensei." Hikaru folded his hands in front of him and nodded to himself, mumbling "Yep, definitely better."

Kuwabara grumbled under his breath; the Shodan was awful at comforting people. Well, at the very least his apprentice-to-be was sharing his mutual dislike for Ogata Seiji.

He stopped in his tracks as he caught himself in the middle of his train of thought.

"Apprentice, eh..." he looked up at the clear blue sky, "That has a nice ring to it."

He chuckled some more and Hikaru waited patiently beside him, not sure what to make of his words or how to respond. At last, the Honinbou turned to him.

"You." He pointed at Hikaru, "You are the perfect person to annoy that pesky glasses. Just imagine his face when I showed you off around! Hoh hoh hoh! He'll pull at his hair, no doubt!"

"Se-sensei, you're not planning to announce to everyone right away that I'm going to be your student, right...?" Hikaru looked extremely uncomfortable at the idea. That plus the fact that he'll be caught in the crossfire between Kuwabara vs. Ogata was enough to make him bolt and abandon ship.

"Nah, I'm too old for causing havoc like that. I'll let you tail me around and that's that," he replied lightly, "though if anyone asked, I won't bother with lying, Shindou-kun." He looked at his protege meaningfully, and Hikaru sighed.

"Well... I guess that's alright." He could deal with a little attention; he just had to ignore them as usual.

Then they continued walking to Hikaru knows where. He hadn't got the time to ask.

Notes:

-Wakajishisen: Young Lion Tournament. In this story (a continuation from the canon short story), Hikaru lost 0.5 moku to Touya.
You can read a glimpse of the fight on Soji & Oka short story and my fic, White Stones if you're interested.

Author's Notes:

Finally, I get the time to update this! My work has taken a lot of my time.
Another one of my longer chapter, also did some very minor editing for grammar issues. The next update would took a while.

Thank you A LOT for the kind reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well; let me know what you think!