I'm so glad you all liked this story! I really didn't like it except the first chapter and these last two. But I guess they were better than I thought, huh? So, this is the last chapter. I hope you enjoy it as much as you apparently liked the rest of the story. -smile-

Chapter 8 - There and Back Again

"Did you really lose Akira?" a woman asked as the people around him murmured. "But he said that he'd never played before!"

Akira gasped.

"I finally found you..." Akira was gasping for breath. He'd never run that fast before. "...Shindou!"

"He was at that store with all the computers." a man said as he entered the salon.

"I'm going to get so far ahead that he'll never catch up!"

"Shindou!"

"I won't play you." he turned around from the window they were speaking through.

"Shindou!"

"So you never really thought I was Sai?" Outside a computer shop.

"Shindou!"

"He's an insei now."

"Hikaru Shindou!"

"Akira! Akira wake up! You're going to be late!" a female voice called worriedly. "Akira!"

Akira's eyes shot open and he sat up. Looking at the clock revealed it to be a little past 10 in the morning. Akira's eyes widened and he jumped out of bed, hurrying to get ready for the day. He had a lot of matches today, and he didn't want to miss them.

Halfway through pulling on his jacket, one that made him look much older than he was, Akira stopped. He looked around his room and called out softly.

"Shindou?"

There was no answer, and Akira couldn't feel or see the cold.

"If you can't trust me...then go away!"

Akira lowered his eyes to the ground.

"I'm sorry. Really I am." he muttered as he got ready, slowly. "So, if you're angry, or if you're trying to avoid me...You can come out now Shindou."

Akira pulled off his jacket suddenly and hung it back up. He quickly changed into clothes that he'd never thought of wearing, especially not to a match. He was wearing two shirts and casual pants. What had spurred this on? Akira looked at the ground, and then scanned his room.

"Really Shindou. Come out already. This is getting old."

Akira's tone was somewhat cold, but inside he was already panicking. Why wasn't Shindou responding to him? Did he really leave? Or...No...Shindou was never one to give up that easily. He would keep coming back. And Akira was supposed to remember him, right? So why had he left?

"Shindou?" he called softly, once more. After a minute of no response, Akira's thoughts snapped loose and he bolted from his room.

"Akira?" his mother asked as he ran into the kitchen.

"Mother, please tell the go association that I can not make it to my games today. I have something incredibly important to attend to." his determined yet scared look is probably what made his mother agree, and then he was pulling on his shoes and jacket and running out the door.

And suddenly Akira was running through the snow. He ran past the go salons and the go institute. He passed his middle school and Hikaru's, and he wasn't even sure what he was looking for.

Finally, Akira collapsed to the ground. No one was outside, as the weatherman had forecast a nasty storm. But Akira hadn't heard the news, so outside he was.

"Shindou!" he yelled as loud as he could, and then took gulping breaths. He was so tired.

The snow was soaking his pants, and Akira knew he'd be sick tomorrow. He didn't like the cold and had near zero tolerance for it. So why was he out here in this weather? When a storm could blow up at any moment, why was he out here looking for a ghost?

"You did exist, and I know it." he tried. "I've been trying to remember you, but I failed you last night. You're gone. You're gone Shindou...I was too late." Akira didn't fight the tears.

Hikaru and him had never been the greatest of friends, Akira didn't even consider them as such. But he'd wanted to be. Akira had wanted to be with Hikaru every moment that he could, so that they could play each other and never get bored. But Hikaru...Hikaru had never existed? No. He'd been erased.

Akira wasn't exactly sure what powers could erase a person from the world, but he didn't care! Hikaru Shindou had needed his help, had come specifically to him...And Akira had failed him.

Now all he wanted was to be with Hikaru, to have Hikaru stay with him. He liked the other boy's presence, and he never wanted to lose him again. But first, first he had to get Hikaru back! But how!? Hikaru was gone and...

"Hikaru Shindou...Come back to me. Please. I'm sorry for everything, really I am."

The wind picked up and Akira hugged his jacket to him, wishing he'd worn warmer clothes.

"Hikaru!" Akira managed to hear himself over the suddenly howling wind and the snow that was getting tossed around, but then stopped talking. It was so cold!

It was cold, just like Hikaru when Akira stepped through him. It was just like...Akira turned his head to look behind him and let out a single tear and smile. His eyes closed and the cold wrapped around him like a blanket, suddenly becoming quite warm. And Akira fell asleep in the cold, because his body had become so numb that he couldn't feel the cold. All he could feel was the pain and the warmth of his own tears, caked on to his cheeks.

-

"Akira!" a female voice yelled angrily. "I've had to cancel all your games today! What is with you!? Wake up!"

Akira's eyes snapped open yet again and he looked around without sitting up. He was laying in his own bed. Akira placed a hand on his head, feeling as if it would explode, and realized that he had a fever.

He heard something. His mother was talking to him. But Akira wasn't listening. And then she opened his door and came over, moving his hand and replacing it with her own. She pulled it away, and Akira guessed that she was making a fuss about his temperature. But again, he wasn't listening.

"Stop crying Touya Akira...Stop crying..." he whispered Hikaru's words as the tears fell from his eyes. "Was it all just a dream? That I saw him there?"

Akira voice was broken from the fever and his own tears.

"Did I really go out looking? Did I chase him?"

Akira didn't dare open his eyes, even when his mother opened the door and walked over to him. When did she leave? A wet rag was place on his head, and Akira heard the door close.

"I really failed then huh?" he whispered to himself. "I failed Hikaru, and I failed myself..."

"Now, I wouldn't say that." a voice teased. "If that were true, then how is this possible? I don't know of any 'failure' that you're talking about Touya."

Akira's eyes snapped open and he turned his head sharply to look at the boy his age that was sitting in the chair next to his bed that hadn't been there when he'd fallen asleep. He narrowed his eyes, the fever clouding his vision.

"Hikaru...Shindou?" he asked softly.

"Does anyone else have these bangs?" he tugged on the blonde hair for example. Akira started crying again, and he wasn't sure if it was the fever's pain, or something else. "Hey, why are you crying?"

"I'm sorry." Akira said, quite calmly, before he fell asleep again.

"Ah man." Hikaru sighed, tapping his own forehead in thought. "This is a pain." he shrugged as the door opened.

"Shindou-san...Your friends are waiting for you outside." Akira's mom informed him. "The one with wild brown hair is getting upset."

Hikaru laughed. "I'm leaving then. He fell asleep anyway."

Hikaru stood from his seat and left the room with a little wave back at Akira. He met up with his friends outside and grinned.

"What happened?" Isumi asked.

"He fell asleep before we could really talk. He's got a blaring fever." Hikaru touched his forehead in example.

"Why'd we come here anyway?" Waya asked as they walked away. Hikaru grinned.

"I just wanted to thank him for something. But I can do it later." he grinned wider at their confused faces. "Don't worry about it guys. Let's just go play some Go!" he ran off and the other two ran after him.

Fin