=====
Troy Thomas - troythomas1@yahoo.ca - troythomas3@hotmail.com
http://ca.geocities.com/troythomas1/

______________________________________________________________________ 
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Same Destination, Different Path

Hikaru no Go is the creation of Yumi Hotta and property of 
Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata.

***

Chapter One

The girl walking beside Hikaru Shindo wasn't his girlfriend, 
but she was his friend and she was a girl. They may have left 
school together, under the watchful and knowing gaze of all 
their friends, but that didn't mean they were on a date or 
anything. They just left school together, because that's what 
they had always done.

If only the stupid warmth that Hikaru knew was a blush would 
disappear from his face!

"We're gonna go over to my gramps' place first. Is that 
okay?" Hikaru asked.

"I guess so, but why?" Akari asked.

"I'm going to ask him for a bit of money," Hikaru replied. 
"My mom's really annoyed that I failed the last Social 
Studies test, so my allowance was cut off."

"You failed it?" Akari asked. She then asked, after a moment 
of thought, "What was your score?"

"Eight percent," Hikaru said, nervously chuckling. "It's my 
worst subject. Just can't pass it. Fail all the tests."

"Eight percent? Wow, that's bad." Akari looked straight at 
Hikaru. "If you need help, then I can, I guess."

Hikaru shrugged. "If you really want to." He thought, 'But 
everybody'd say stuff! So maybe not.' He then said, 
"Actually, no. It'd just be a waste of time."

"What?" Hikaru noted Akari's voice was annoyed. But why?

He replied, "Nothin'."

They stood in front of his grandfather and grandmother's 
home. Walking up to the entrance door, he knocked. After a 
minute, he knocked again, but still no one answered. He then 
cautiously opened the door.

"You're just going inside? But nobody's home," Akari said. 
"Is it really okay?"

"It'll be fine!" Hikaru said, cheerfully trying to mask his 
doubt. It might not be okay right away, but he was certain 
it'd work out all right in the end. "I've got an idea."

Leading Akari up to the attic, Hikaru turned on the light. 
"This way might actually be better than asking Gramps for 
money."

"What way?" Akari asked, nervously. "Are you gonna get us in 
trouble?"

"No way!" Hikaru said, reassuringly. "I'm just gonna see if 
Gramps has got anything valuable here that we can sell."

"Isn't that stealing?" Akari asked.

"Uh.... He probably won't notice anyway," Hikaru replied. 
"Anyway, help me look. We can get out of here faster that 
way."

Akari stood beside him, and then knelt down, helping Hikaru 
to shift aside and through dusty and weedy boxes. Eventually, 
Hikaru spotted behind a particularly abandoned box an object 
he felt would be suitable.

Pushing the box aside, he grabbed an end of the object, and 
dragged it into the weak light of the attic. He said, "A 
goban! Looks expensive too! Dusty though."

"A goban? Never seen one before. Thought it was a 
chessboard." Akari looked closely at it. "It looks really 
old...."

"Expensive too!" Hikaru pulled out his handkerchief. "Maybe 
we should clean it first though to make sure it's sellable." 
Giving the board a few good wipes, he noticed how clear the 
surface of the board was. He could see his reflection! There 
was one small problem with the board though, he found, after 
having cleared all the dust off the board. "This stupid stain 
won't come out!" he said, eventually. He pushed the 
handkerchief down hard onto the board surface, trying to 
scour the faint red colour off the goban.

"What stain?" asked Akari. "It looks clean to me. It's nice."

"This stain. Right here," said Hikaru, pointing at a red 
tinted corner on the goban.

"I can't see anything." Akari closely peered at the board. 
"It's clean."

"Stupid," mumbled Hikaru, returning his handkerchief to his 
pocket. "Fine then. Let's just get it out of here before my 
gramps finds us." He looked expectantly at Akari, who sighed 
and then walked to the other side of the board. "On three, 
we'll pick it up."

"One, two," he counted. On three, he picked up his side, but 
found Akari hadn't lifted her end. After putting the goban 
back down, he stood up to growl at Akari. However, when he 
looked at her, he saw she was staring at something or someone 
behind him.

Turning, he only had a chance to say, "Crap!"

He was lightly bopped on the head. "What are you doing, young 
sir?" asked his grandfather, Takuya Shindo. He looked at 
Akari, who blushed. "Hello, young lady."

"Um, hi Grandpa," replied Akari, timidly bowing.

"That hurt, Gramps!" shouted Hikaru, rubbing his head.

"Show some respect, Hikaru," said Takuya. "Now, what are you 
trying to do with my old goban?"

"Nothing. Just taking it is all." Hikaru then realised he 
opened his mouth a bit too soon. He quickly covered it with 
his hands.

"And why exactly is this?" However, Takuya didn't ask Hikaru, 
but Akari.

Waving his hands at her, trying to convince her not to say 
anything, Hikaru instantly recognised the expression on 
Akari's face. It was the one where she was going to say that 
which would get him into trouble. The truth, in fewer words, 
so to speak.

"He only got eight points on the last Social Studies test, so 
Uncle and Auntie cut off his allowance. He wanted to sell the 
goban to make some money." Hikaru glared at Akari, who 
sternly returned the expression.

Takuya raised his eyebrows. "Now, that's certainly 
harebrained. But not entirely surprising considering it's 
Hikaru who thought of it." He waved at Hikaru and Akari to 
follow him downstairs. "Your mother already asked me not to 
give you any money. But I understand you like to buy things. 
You're young!" He led them into the family room. "And seeing 
my old goban has gotten me into the mood to play some Go."

"But I don't know how to play," said Hikaru.

"Then you'll learn," said Takuya. However, when Hikaru opened 
his mouth to say he didn't want to learn, his grandfather cut 
him off saying in a general, to anybody who's listening 
fashion, "Otherwise, I might accidentally say to my daughter 
about an incident where a young boy tried to steal something 
precious of his grandfather's so he could sell it for 
probably the wrong price anyway."

"Crap!" muttered Hikaru, under his breath.

"Anyway, go and get the goban. It's sitting over there in the 
corner."

Even though it was under duress, Hikaru did as told. In the 
background, he listened to his grandfather ask Akari, "Have 
you ever played Go before?"

"No...."

"That's okay. There's always a time to learn, right?"

"Yeah, I guess...."

Dragging the board, Hikaru was quickly helped by Akari to 
pick it up. "This is all your fault!" she hissed at him.

"Well, you didn't have to open up your big mouth!" Hikaru 
returned.

Bringing the board in front of Hikaru's grandfather, the two 
kids gently put the board down.

Takuya already had in his hands the goke, which were the 
bowls holding the Go stones. "There's two colours, Hikaru, 
Akari. Black and white...."

Zoning out, but still semi-listening, Hikaru learned 
everything about Go that he didn't really ever want to know, 
which was pretty much anything.

"And so that's how you win the game!" Takuya beamed at the 
two kids, but only then noticed for the first time the 
oblivious expressions on the kids' faces. Leaning forward, 
over the board, he placed a white stone onto the surface, on 
an intersection where two lines met. "I've never taught 
before, but I've won a lot. Didn't think there'd be much of a 
difference."

Hikaru looked at the stone. He was sure that the stone 
would've gone into one of the boxes the lines formed, and not 
on the lines themselves!

Rubbing his chin, Takuya took out another stone, but it was 
of the other colour. "Maybe something simple, like a capture 
game would be a good place to start for you two...." He 
surrounded the white stone with three black stones. "This is 
Atari, where this white stone in the middle of these black 
stones is a move away from being captured." He put down one 
more black stone to completely surround the white stone. 
"When this happens, the white stone is captured, so it's 
taken off the board. And it's lost for good." He pointed at 
the new formation. "That's an eye. White can't put a stone 
into that eye, cause that'd be suicide."

'That's just like me,' thought Hikaru. 'I'm in Atari cause 
Gramps can get me in major trouble with just one move.'

Takuya returned the fourth black stone to the goke, and 
placed the white stone back into Atari. "Now, how would you 
get that stone out of trouble?" he asked.

Akari placed her finger on the stone. "Move it!" she chirpily 
said, as she dragged the stone out from the middle of the 
three black stones.

Takuya apprehensively smiled. "Ah, that can't be done. Can't 
move a stone when it's been placed on the board." He returned 
the stone to its original position. "But you can place 
another white stone on the board to help it out." He gave a 
white stone to Akari. "Where would you put it?" he asked.

She held the stone, and concentrated on the board. She then 
put the white stone right beside the centre white stone.

"Hmm.... Think she's right, Hikaru?" asked Takuya.

Hikaru looked at the formation. "Um, yeah?" he replied, after 
a moment of thought.

"Why do you two think this will work?" asked Hikaru's 
grandfather.

Hikaru looked at Akari, and saw she wanted him to answer. 
"Um, cause it makes.... It helps the other one." He scrambled 
for an answer, "It takes over the spot that black, um... 
wants."

"Right!" Takuya started clapping. "You two will be Go pros 
yet!" He cackled, and then put more stones on the board. 
"This is interesting. The shape when black and white can 
capture each other's pieces forever without ever making 
progress is called Ko." He then put down another black stone, 
but between the four white stones. "Normally, this is 
suicide. But in this case, it's different cause this 
happens." He removed the white stone caught in the middle of 
the four black stones. "There's a rule for Ko. Once the first 
stone is captured, white can't immediately capture the last 
moved black stone until it's made a move somewhere else on 
the board other than the Ko shape." Hikaru's grandfather 
leaned back, and looked at both kids. "Maybe you two can try 
playing now. Sit facing each other." He saw the confusion on 
the kids' faces, but ignored it. 'Even if they don't 
understand it now, they will before they leave,' he thought.

Hikaru faced Akari. "I'm white," he said.

"I wanted to be white," replied Akari.

"Too bad." Hikaru grinned.

"Black always has the first move," said Takuya. "Try to see 
who can capture three stones first."

A moment later, Hikaru threw his arms into the air. "I won!" 
he happily shouted.

"I lost," said Akari, pouting.

"Winner faces me next," said Takuya.

"No way! I lost!" Hikaru shouted, staring in shock at the 
board.

"Heh! Can't beat me!" said Takuya.

Games later, when it was beginning to cool down, Hikaru's 
grandmother Mai Shindo entered the room carrying a bag of 
groceries. Looking in surprise at her, Takuya said, "Wow! 
This late already?" He looked to Hikaru and Akari. "Alright 
then. Same time tomorrow, okay?"

"Ah...." Hikaru had started to make up an excuse, but caught 
sight of a glint in his grandfather's eye. "Yeah, of course!"

Standing outside, Hikaru exhaustedly sighed.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," said Akari, walking 
away.

The next morning, Hikaru woke up to dreamy thoughts of 
talking gobans. "Stupid Gramps!" he muttered, climbing out of 
bed. It was still ringing in his head, the goban's voice, 
asking him if he could hear it, which is all it said for the 
whole dream!

"No, I can't," he nastily replied, and this answer seemed to 
silence the goban's distant voice. After slothfully moving 
through his morning routine of getting dragged out of the 
house by his mother (who reminded him he was expected at his 
grandfather's after school), Hikaru slowly made his way to 
school.

There, he failed a surprise Social Studies test, and scored a 
goal in Soccer during PE.

However, there seemed to be something he dreaded that made 
the day drag out, as though he was facing his last hour. Yet, 
despite his dismay, he felt that while the day was taking 
forever to play out, what time had already been used hadn't 
been nearly enough.

Then, the final class bell rang, and Akari approached him. It 
was time to face Grandpa, and whatever he had planned for 
today.

Arriving at Grandpa's house, Hikaru and Akari found him 
waiting outside, wearing a sweater. "I thought maybe it's not 
too fun playing Go with an old man like me for the first 
time. Maybe you two might get along better with people your 
own age." He motioned for the two kids to follow him. "We're 
heading to a Go salon. There's somebody there who might like 
to meet you both, since he's always by himself. Who knows? 
Maybe you'll all become friends through Go?"

Since neither Hikaru nor Akari responded, Takuya must've felt 
a need to fill up the silence. "Go shouldn't be a punishment, 
but a joy! I just want to share something I love with the two 
of you."

Feeling a little less bound, and a bit more interested in 
what was happening, Hikaru asked, "Who we meeting?"

"Well, I'm hoping he's free, but I think he's your age. His 
name is Akira Toya," Takuya replied. "He's a nice kid, and he 
really loves Go. Better at the game than me, even."

"Then maybe you're no good?" asked Hikaru.

A glint flashed in Takuya's eye. He brought out from under 
his shirt a medal that he put right in Hikaru's face. "This 
is first place in a tournament held sixteen years ago! I'm no 
slouch, boy!"

"So you're pretty good?" Hikaru asked, secretly wondering if 
his grandpa wore that medal all the time.

"Yup, you better believe it, my boy! But Akira is amazing. A 
genius!" Putting his medal away, Takuya gestured to a door 
just ahead. "Maybe some of his love of the game will rub off 
on you two."

"Maybe," Hikaru said, hoping that answer would silence his 
grandpa for a bit. 'Fat chance,' he thought.

Hikaru noticed when they arrived that it was an automatic 
door. It slid open, and his grandfather walked in as though 
familiar with what lay beyond.

Looking tentatively at Akari, who expected him to walk inside 
first, Hikaru then took a gulp of air. He'd never been in a 
Go salon before. Weren't they just for old people, like his 
grandpa Takuya?

"Ichikawa! How you doing?" Hikaru heard his grandpa say to a 
young lady who welcomed him inside.

"I'm doing good. And yourself?" Hikaru saw Ichikawa was young 
lady working behind the counter. She seemed to be the only 
employee.

"Great, just great!" Grandpa leaned in conspiratorially 
towards Ichikawa. "Now, I've brought a couple of beginner 
kids with me today. I'm hoping they could be tutored by 
Akira, if he's free?" He winked at her.

Hikaru looked at Akari, who was watching Ichikawa, who looked 
at them both with a cheerful smile.

"Oh, they're so cute!" Ichikawa said. "So, you two want to 
learn how to play Go?"

"Yeah, cause uh... we...." Hikaru started to reply.

"We both just started yesterday," Akari said, finishing 
Hikaru's sentence.

"That's so cute!" Ichikawa said, her cheerful smile growing. 
Her behaviour began to make both blush, and they saw what the 
expression on Ichikawa's face was inferring - puppy love. 
"Uncle Takuya, if you could just fill this out, with their 
names too please," she said, handing Takuya a clipboard. 
"Well, I'll ask Akira then. Just hold on a sec, okay?"

"Uncle?" Hikaru asked.

"Well, I come here a lot, and we're good friends now, me and 
her. Me and everybody, actually.... Although I haven't met 
the owner personally yet," said Grandpa, finishing writing on 
the board, placing it onto the counter. "You'll meet lots of 
people playing Go, if you give it a chance."

Maybe, felt Hikaru. But were Go-playing people the kind of 
people he wanted to meet?

Ichikawa returned with a young boy, who said, "Hi. I'm Akira 
Toya." He gestured to the room behind him. "Let's go."

"So, this is how much?" Takuya asked Ichikawa, pulling out 
his wallet.

"Oh, don't worry about paying," said Ichikawa. "Akira said 
he'd treat you all."

"Really? Well thank you very much, Akira," said Takuya. He 
looked at Hikaru and Akari. "I suppose I'll let you be." He 
pointed to another section where there was much noise. "I'm 
going over there. I'll pick you both up when I've played a 
game or two."

Akira turned, and walked into a silent and slightly darkened 
room. He seemed to expect Hikaru and Akari to follow him, 
which they did.

"So, you both have never played before?" he asked, when 
reaching a table with two small nine by nine gobans set up.

"Yeah," said Hikaru. "Just started yesterday, when I got in 
trouble with my gramps."

"What?" Akira asked, surprised.

"Nothing," said Hikaru, realising he opened his mouth too 
soon again.

"So, what grade you in?" asked Akari, quickly changing the 
subject.

"Six," replied Akira.

"Us too!" said Akari. "That's so cool!" She pointed to 
Hikaru. "But he's practically in Grade five since he's got 
the worst grades in class right now."

"Akari!" growled Hikaru.

"How are your grades?" Akari asked.

"First place," Akira replied, trying for indifferent but 
ending up embarrassed.

"That's like the total opposite of Hikaru. It's like you two 
are twins, but totally opposite!" Akari looked at Hikaru with 
an expression of asking for compliance but was met instead 
with a scowl.

"We gonna start or what?" Hikaru asked, staring daggers at 
Akari, who stuck her tongue out at him.

Casually starting, Akira played capturing games with both 
Hikaru and Akari at the same time, and in the end won both 
games easily.

"You're good." Hikaru slumped forward, yet smiled. "It is 
kind of fun playing with somebody your own age." He picked up 
the lone stone he managed to capture. "So, you play all the 
time?"

"Yeah, my dad's a professional Go player, so I always play 
with him in the morning," Akira replied. "I also play pros 
who come over to visit us...."

"Professional Go player?" Hikaru looked at Akari, wondering 
if she knew what Akira was talking about. The blank look on 
her face told him she also didn't know what Akira meant.

Strangely, the question seemed to make Akira happy, rather 
than shocked like Hikaru expected.

"Yeah, he makes a living playing Go," said Akira, and he left 
it at that.

"Whoa." Hikaru looked at the stone in his fingers. "Who knew? 
You can live off a game!"

"Let's try again," said Akira. "I'll give you both a handicap 
of four stones. And then we'll play out a game on a nineteen 
by nineteen board played by pros to give you both some idea 
of how to play for real."

And it all turned out to be not so bad, felt Hikaru. Maybe 
even really fun, in fact.

After losing another game to Akira, Hikaru wanted to try 
again, but was called by his grandpa, "Hikaru. Akari. It's 
time to go!" He then called out to Akira, "Thank you very 
much, young man. I'll remember your generosity!"

"No, that's all right, but thank you!" said Akira, while 
walking with Hikaru and Akari to the exit. "It was really 
fun! I'd like to play with them again tomorrow, if that's 
okay?"

"Wow, you're polite and well spoken. The total opposite of 
Hikaru!" said Grandpa, looking in amazement at Akira. "Yes, 
yes. If you like, I'll bring them both! Same time!"

>From the counter, Ichikawa gave to Takuya a piece of paper. 
"Uncle, there's this too. Maybe if you all have some time you 
should all attend. Let them get a taste of competitive Go!" 
She flashed a cute smile at Hikaru and Akari, causing them to 
blush.

"That sounds great!" said Takuya, reading the paper. 
"Children's Go Tournament, hmm?"

They quickly left the salon, and started on their way home.

Glaring at his grandpa for the earlier remark about him being 
the opposite of Akira, Hikaru did feel some sense of 
gratitude that they'd be coming again the next day. Go wasn't 
too bad, really. Just as long as nobody else found out, at 
least.

"Well, let's get you home first, Akari," said Takuya, 
eventually. "Then Hikaru, you'll come with me to help me 
clean the mess you made in my attic."

Hikaru groaned. It was a big mess.

"I'll come too," said Akari. "I'm sure my mom won't mind."

"You sure?" asked Grandpa.

"Well, I'm also kinda responsible, so I should help out." 
Akari then said, "And it's fun being with you, Grandpa. So 
that's why I want to help"

"I'm glad you feel that way!"

It turned out the attic, was dirtier than Hikaru remembered. 
But with three people working, it took much less time to 
clean it than he first expected. Only the stained goban was 
left to put out of the way.

"You can put that back Hikaru. I'll be downstairs, phoning 
your mothers to tell them you're both about to get going 
home." Takuya then climbed downstairs, leaving Hikaru and 
Akari alone with the goban.

"Wow, this place is kind of creepy, when you think about it," 
said Akari, looking about, her voice slightly tense. "Makes 
you think there's a ghost in here. Or maybe even rats...."

Hikaru walked over to the goban. He looked at its shiny 
surface, and at the stain. Taking out his handkerchief, he 
began to scrub at it, but saw it wasn't coming off. He said, 
"You know, this is really nice, compared to the others we 
saw. It'd be a lot better than the one Gramps has got 
downstairs at least... if we could just get this stupid stain 
out!"

Akari leaned over Hikaru, who was furiously scrubbing at 
surface. She watched for a moment, and then said, "You said 
that yesterday.... What are you talking about? What stain?"

"This stain! Right here!" Hikaru pointed at it. It was quite 
a big mess, and only a stupid blind bat could miss it, which 
he also told her.

"There's nothing there!" Akari said, heatedly. She turned 
around. "I'm gonna see Grandpa. Then maybe you'll be finished 
joking around and being stupid!"

Hikaru watched her go, and mused at the shakiness in her 
voice. She never did like scary movie, the chicken. "Idiot. 
Can't see the stain.... It's right there. Can't miss it!" 
Hikaru was then aware of a presence behind him, but he paid 
it no mind, turning back around to start again at the goban.

"You really see a stain?" he was asked, after some time had 
passed.

"Yes, I do!" Hikaru replied, thinking Akari had come back 
upstairs.

However, Akari only just popped her head above the stairs. 
"What?" she asked.

"I said yes!" Hikaru responded.

"But... I didn't ask you anything," said Akari, her voice a 
bit shaky, as though a little worried.

"Quit joking around," said Hikaru. "You asked me if I really 
saw a stain. And I did! And it's right here!"

"You see it?"

"Yes. For the last time, I see it!" Hikaru gritted his teeth. 
This was really getting under his nerves.

"Hikaru... who were you talking to... just then?" Akari 
asked. "Cause I didn't say anything."

"You heard me?" Hikaru was asked.

Turning to look at Akari, Hikaru saw something in the corner 
of his eye. He turned to look at the figure. A woman? No.... 
It was a guy... standing where the goban had just been.

"Who... who are you?" Falling backwards onto his bottom, 
Hikaru tried to back away.

"Hikaru!" he heard Akari distantly say to him. "What are you 
doing?" her voice sounded panicked. "Quit joking! I'm 
going...." He didn't hear anymore of what she had to say 
though.

"You... you see me?" the man asked. His voice sounded both 
surprised and hopeful.

Standing up, and still backing away, Hikaru began to feel a 
bit tired, despite the worry rushing through his veins at the 
sight of a complete stranger where there had just been nobody 
before.

"If you can see me, then that means...." Hikaru barely heard 
what the man said next, as the exhaustion that had just 
swiftly taken over his body then had him fall over into 
oblivion, "I can return to the living world...."

It was a strange dream, he immediately felt. For starters, he 
knew it was dream. However, it was also a dream about 
sleeping, because he had his eyes closed, and his body was 
incredibly relaxed.

'What's going on?' he wondered.

"I appeared before you, and occupied a small place in your 
mind," someone replied.

'Who... who was that?' Hikaru wondered, panicked. No one 
should've been able to read his thoughts! What a weird dream!

"But I did hear your thoughts, and that's probably unfair, so 
I'll eavesdrop as little as possible. Listening to your 
thoughts I mean." The voice then said, "I am Fujiwara no 
Sai...."

'This has got to be just a dream.' But somehow, Hikaru felt 
it was something more. It was a dream, but something else 
too.

Suddenly, he woke, and he was in a room with his mother, 
Mitsuko, and father, Masao. His mother was asking him if he 
was all right, he slowly noticed, coming out of the strange 
dream.

"Yeah...." Hikaru shook his head clear of cobwebs. 
"Where...." He looked around, and saw he could only be in one 
place - a hospital room. "What...."

"You're okay," his mother said, relieved. "Let's get you 
home!"

"What happened?" Hikaru tiredly asked. He tried to stand, but 
felt exhausted. His father picked him up, and began carrying 
him on his back. "Why am I here?"

"You fell down unconscious while at your grandpa's," Mitsuko 
said, her voice calm. "Honey, you must've been overdoing 
it.... You're just exhausted the doctors said."

"Huh?" But Hikaru remembered nothing, falling back into the 
same dream from before.

Hikaru looked at the man, who was in front of him, and whom 
he'd seen in the attic. "What was your name again?" he asked, 
hesitantly.

"I am Fujiwara no Sai," the man said. "I am a Go player."

"Nice name," said Hikaru. 'This is too weird,' he thought. 
'What kind of dream is this anyway?'

"This is a dream, but this is also really happening," said 
Sai. "I occupied the goban with the stain only you could 
see."

Hikaru thought back, when he was asking Akari about the stain 
her saying she didn't see anything at all. "No way!" He shook 
his head. "This has gotta be a dream! Wake up! Wake up! Wake 
up!"

"Hikaru?" said somebody. "Hikaru, can you hear me?"

It was his mother.

Opening his eyes, the dream faded away into nothing. His 
mother's face took up his entire view. "You're awake! You had 
me worried there. Had us all worried!" She took one of hands, 
helping him to sit up.

Looking about the room - his room - he saw his father, 
sitting beside his grandparents, and they were all smiling in 
relief at him. "How.... When...." He looked to his window, 
and saw it was dark outside. "What... happened?"

"You collapsed, Hikaru," said his mother. She sat beside him, 
and the bed shifted under weight. "You rode to the hospital 
where they checked up on you, and didn't find anything wrong 
with you. They said you'd be okay, so we brought you 
home...." Curiosity filled her voice. "Do you remember 
anything? The doctor said we should ask."

He remembered a strange dream where he was talking to a ghost 
or goban or something, but that was a fantasy, wasn't it? He 
shook his head. He looked back to the window, and the 
darkness made him wonder. "What time is it?"

"Very late," said his mother. "You missed dinner."

The mention of dinner made his stomach growl.

"Hmm, you seem okay, but I think you should see the doctor 
tomorrow morning anyway." His mother placed her hand on his 
forehead, and removed it quickly. "No fever, so that's 
good.... We'll wait to see how you are in the morning, I 
think. But you should be okay."

Other than the hours he couldn't remember, it was a simple 
night. He had a bit to eat, then he went back to sleep, where 
he dreamed of a race where he was the only contestant to show 
up. Oddly, he remembered only at the last second that he 
didn't know where the finish line was, and the start wasn't 
even in sight.

It was a morning of haste due to not waking up to his alarm 
clock. In the process of getting from his bed to the front 
door, he somehow managed to convince his mother he needn't 
see the doctor because he was quite alright, and that after 
school he could go with his grandpa back to that Go salon to 
see his new friend.

"Go?" somebody said, as Hikaru was walking out the front 
door. Looking about, Hikaru saw nobody near. 'Must be hearing 
things,' he thought.

"You aren't," someone said.

Slowly closing the front door, feeling edgy, Hikaru 
remembered the dream from the night before.

"Yes, we met last night, although I think you were very 
confused. To be honest though, so was I," said Sai, suddenly 
appearing in front of Hikaru.

Jumping back a foot in surprise, Hikaru made as though to 
grab the doorknob.

"Ah, don't be afraid!" said Sai. "Please, hear me out!"

Hikaru watched the ghost, spirit, or whatever - he watched in 
fascination as Sai expressively worried over having scared 
Hikaru. Sai shook his head, waved his hands, and constantly 
frowned. "No, no, no, no! I'm not a scary ghost. I'm nice and 
harmless. I just want to play Go!"

"Go?"

"Yes, Go!" Sai seemed as though he was about to float away. 
"I love Go. I played dozens, hundreds, even thousands of 
games in my lifetime in order to achieve the Hand of God. But 
I never became discouraged enough to quit." He appeared as 
though in thought. "But I did throw myself into the river... 
so maybe that contradicts what I just said."

"Threw yourself... in the... river?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes. I drowned, but I didn't continue onward towards 
wherever we go after life. My desire to achieve the Hand of 
Go kept my spirit here on Earth. It was simply too strong to 
die." Sai sighed.

Behind Hikaru, the door opened, and his mother looked at him, 
a bit exasperated. "Hikaru, you'll be late if you keep 
playing around here. Go to school already!"

It was only when he was halfway to school that he realised 
his mom said nothing about the guy with the tall hat standing 
right behind him, clear as day. 'So he really is a ghost,' he 
thought.

"It was too much, but I am selfish." The man's voice sounded 
very sad. "I have occupied a small place in your soul so I 
may finally be able to play the Hand of God."

"Hand of God?" asked Hikaru, confused.

"I loved Go. And I was on the path to my goal, but had my 
dream ended after a terrible disagreement. So after that, I 
could not continue. I died." Sai then said, "But my spirit 
possessed a goban. My desire was too strong to allow me to 
continue onward, so I remained here on Earth. Until somebody 
saw the stains on the board I possessed."

"Me?" Hikaru asked.

"His name was Torajiro, but it was long ago. He and I played 
many games, but still I could obtain the Hand of God. And 
Torajiro died at a sad and tragic young age, so I was once 
again fated to wait for another." Sai asked, "Will you help 
me?"

"You want to play Go? To get this Hand of God?"

"Yes," said Sai.

Hikaru didn't answer, as he heard a bell at his school. 
"Crap! I'm gonna be late!" he shouted, breaking into a run.

He made it to his seat on time, but sweating and breathing 
hard, he realised he mustn't look very cool to his 
classmates.

"You came to school?" Akari asked, leaning in towards Hikaru, 
whispering. Her desk was beside his. A situation that only 
helped to encourage everyone to make fun of them both, as if 
they were connected by destiny.

"Hey, what's your name?" asked Sai, all of a sudden, having 
just caught his own breath, standing by Hikaru's desk.

"Yeah, I came. My mom would'a fussed way too much if I stayed 
home," Hikaru replied to Akari, pointedly ignoring Sai. 
"Besides, Gramps is taking us back to that place today!"

"Hey, you! What's your name?" Your name, please?" said Sai. 
"I'm Fujiwara no Sai!"

'You already said that!' Hikaru thought, annoyed.

"I did?" asked Sai.

Hikaru suddenly realised nobody had commented on Sai's 
presence, so he looked around to see everyone was staring at 
the teacher, who had just entered the room. 'No one sees 
Sai!' he thought.

"Of course not! I'm attached only to you, so only you're able 
to see me," said Sai. "Anyway, what's your name?"

"Hikaru. Hikaru Shindo," replied Hikaru, quietly.

"Well, Hikaru. It's nice to meet you," said Sai. "I hope we 
become good friends, since we will probably be together for a 
long time."

"What!?" Hikaru loudly shouted, interrupting the class. 
Noticing after a moment that the entire class was watching 
him in shocked silence, he sat down. He hadn't even noticed 
he had defiantly stood up at what Sai had said. "Sorry," he 
meekly said to the class.

His teacher looked at Hikaru, concernedly. She knowingly 
smiled at him, and then resumed speaking to the class, 
turning to the board.

Lazily laying his head down on his desk, Hikaru thought, 
'Together? Attached? Am I being possessed?' His memory showed 
him images of scary movies where ghosts possessed people, 
making them do creepy and chilling acts of violence.

"No, no, no! I'm not like that! I'm a nice ghost! I just want 
to play Go, Hikaru!" Sai cried out, his voice emotional. 
After a moment, he added, "I don't think I can possess you 
even if I wanted to.... Besides, if I could possess you, and 
only if I really wanted to, all I'd do is play Go."

"Is Go all you think about?" Hikaru muttered, after a while. 
Even now though, Sai was convincing. He felt there was no 
need to worry about being possessed, but still.... How in the 
world did a Go ghost get attached to him, of all the people 
in the world?

"You must really love Go, hmm?" Hikaru asked. The ghost 
happily concurred. "So you must wanna play it all the time 
then, huh?" Sai, with even more joyful emotion agreed to 
Hikaru's question. But it was time to burst this bubble Sai 
was beginning to surround himself with, believing Hikaru was 
going to live his life for Sai. "Well, that's too bad. This 
is my life! And Go has nothing... absolutely nothing at all 
to do with it! I ain't never playing Go if I can help it! I'm 
just a kid still!"

There was a stunned silence, and then Sai asked, "You... you 
won't play?"

Those words affected Hikaru in a strong manner. He felt a 
sudden urge in his stomach, where his breakfast recoiled in 
horror. Holding his hand over his mouth, he suddenly stood up 
knocking his chair over, and then raced out of the room.

The water soothingly ran down the drain, washing away his 
morning meal, leaving little trace of his accident. "Sai.... 
What was that? It was you, wasn't it?" he whispered.

"I am very sorry, Hikaru. It was my thousand-year-old grief, 
overwhelming your young body. It wasn't something I could 
control, but something that happened on its own," said Sai.

"Nice ghost, my...." Suddenly Hikaru's teacher grasped him on 
the shoulder.

"Are you okay, Hikaru?" she asked. Beside her stood Akari. 
"Now, Akari's just explained to me what happened yesterday, 
and your mother phoned this morning asking for me to keep an 
extra eye on you to make sure you were feeling all right. Do 
you think you can continue, today?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," said Hikaru. 'Just as long as the vengeful 
ghost doesn't decide to kill me by accident!' He turned 
around to turn off the water faucet. 'Sai, you can hear me if 
I talk to you like this, right?'

"Yes, Hikaru," replied Sai.

'Okay then. I'm wondering, why me? Why not someone who likes 
Go, like my grandpa? Or that Akira kid I met yesterday?' 
Hikaru thought to Sai.

"I wish I knew. But I am at the mercy of fate. I only attach 
to those who can see the stains on the gobans I have 
inhabited." Sai sighed.

'Can't you haunt someone else?' Hikaru asked.

"I don't think so.... I waited a thousand years before 
someone saw the stain of my tears on the first goban I 
occupied. It was another long period of time before you saw 
the blood stain on the goban yesterday." Sai's sounded very 
despondent.

Hikaru still felt a bit woozy. Perhaps it was still Sai's 
grief that was making him feel so odd?

"Are you sure you're okay, Hikaru?" he heard Akari ask.

"Yeah, I'm alright!" Hikaru said, annoyed. 'A thousand years 
of just wanting to play Go. That's a long time to wait....' 
Hikaru sighed. 'Hey, Sai! Me and Akari and my gramps. We're 
going to a Go salon after school. How does that sound?'

"Really? That's wonderful!" Behind him, Hikaru could hear Sai 
celebrating. He immediately felt better with the weight of 
Sai's sorrow lifted out of his body.

'But I don't know if you can play....' he added, but only to 
himself.

After school, Hikaru was surprised to find his grandfather 
waiting outside the school gate. The old man seemed very 
excited, as though he couldn't wait to get Hikaru and Akari 
along to the Go salon again.

"Your grandfather? He plays Go?" Sai asked, pointing at 
Takuya.

'Yeah,' Hikaru replied.

"Is he good?"

'How would I know? I'm just a beginner,' Hikaru replied, 
annoyed.

"I wanna play him!" Sai said, his voice edged with 
anticipation.

"Hikaru! Akari! I spoke with your parents about signing you 
up for Go classes!" said Takuya, when the two kids approached 
him.

"What?" Hikaru asked, "But that's...."

"It may be a bit assumptive of me to do that, but I think you 
kids could use some encouragement. Take up a nice hobby," 
said Takuya.

"Thanks?" Akari said, looking quizzically at Hikaru, who 
shrugged, and gave her a just-go-along-for-the-ride 
expression.

"Thanks," said Hikaru, his voice exasperated. 'What's with 
all this Go in my life all of a sudden?' He looked at Sai, 
who was curiously looking at Akari. 'That's my friend, Akari. 
Her mom and my mom are best friends, and we live close to 
each other.'

"Are you two... engaged?" asked Sai, with a small knowing 
smile.

"No way!" shouted Hikaru.

"What?" asked at once both Akari and Takuya. They both 
crowded over him, looking at his face concernedly.

'Jeez.... Faint once, and suddenly you're breakable like 
glass, everyone's so worried about you!' Hikaru thought, 
inwardly groaning. He glared at Sai. 'No way we're engaged. 
We're too young, and nobody does that anymore anyway!'

"Hmm. A small change since then.... Back in Torajiro's day, 
it was perfectly acceptable to engage children around your 
age. Although I'm sure your parents would've had you two wait 
a few years before marriage to teach you what you needed to 
know."

Hikaru's face was covered in red. 'It ain't like that, so 
just drop it, okay? Me and Akari are friends. We ain't 
boyfriend and girlfriend!'

"Oh, Hikaru!" Akari suddenly exclaimed. "The teacher asked me 
to ask you if you needed help for Social Studies!"

"What?" said Hikaru, his chain of thought broken.

"The teacher said you were having lots of trouble in Socials, 
so she said to tell you that you should get a tutor...." 
Akari blushed. It was obvious to Hikaru whom the teacher had 
in mind to tutor him. "And she knows we live close to each 
other.... But I told her I asked you yesterday, and you said 
no.... She still...." Hikaru didn't hear whatever else she 
said, her voice had gotten too quiet.

"I got fifteen percent in that make-up quiz yesterday," 
Hikaru said, groaning. The teacher had taken him aside about 
getting a tutor for Socials too, and hint-hint, nudge-nudge, 
guess whom she had in mind?

"You're not a good student?" Sai asked.

"I hate history," said Hikaru.

"Well, do you?" Akari asked, getting impatient.

"Ah, don' know...." Hikaru did not want people talking bout 
him and Akari in the wrong way! It was bad enough people 
always pointed out they were always together even though that 
was just an exaggeration. But if that became true, then what 
would they all say? "Maybe...." He was failing Socials 
though, and his mom threatened him with never getting an 
allowance again so long as he kept his marks up, or in this 
case, down. "When?" he asked, resignedly.

"Is tomorrow okay?" Akari asked.

"Yeah." Hikaru stopped, almost walking straight into his 
grandpa.

It was the Go salon again. However, there was a man whom 
Hikaru's grandfather must've been uneasy around standing just 
outside the doorway as though in thought.

"You know him, Gramps?" Hikaru asked.

"That's Koyo Toya, fool! The Meijin! And he owns this salon 
too!" Takuya replied, hissing.

"Who? What?" Hikaru asked. He looked at Akari, but it seemed 
she also didn't know, as she had a curious expression on her 
face.

"Wait!" Akari suddenly said in a whisper to Hikaru. "Toya. 
Like in Akira Toya?"

Hikaru looked around his grandpa at Koyo Toya. The man had an 
intense look in his eyes.

Koyo Toya looked at Takuya, having just noticed him. "Oh, 
Mister Shindo, right?"

"Yes," said Takuya, sheepishly smiling. "It's a pleasure to 
meet you, Toya Meijin."

"And you," Toya Meijin replied. "Are these your 
grandchildren?" he asked.

"The boy, yes. The girl is his friend. Hikaru Shindo and 
Akari Fujisaki," said Takuya, showing them both off as though 
they were rare and exquisite items.

"Hmm, Akira told me of you two," said Toya Meijin, his 
intensity melting into a warm smile. "I'm his father, Koyo 
Toya. I hope you three become good friends. And please have 
fun playing Go." He stepped aside, allowing them entrance to 
the Go salon.

When inside, Hikaru asked his grandfather, "Toya Meijin?"

Takuya sighed. "Meijin is a title from a championship Go 
match. He's a great, great player. Perhaps the closest to 
achieving the Hand of God." He then turned to Ichikawa, who 
had given him a clipboard and a gentle smile.

"Hikaru!" It was Sai. His voice sounded intense and 
interested. "That man is like me. He's also after the Hand of 
God." Hikaru turned to look at Sai, who was staring at the 
door they had just come through. There was a thoughtful and 
focused air about him, as though ready to jump into battle at 
a moment's notice.

'Sai, I don't know what that means,' thought Hikaru, 
receiving a glare from the ghost. 'Hand of God? Whatever!'

"There's Akira," said Akari, pointing to the room they had 
played in yesterday. "Can we go over there? He seems to be in 
a game...."

Hikaru looked, and sure enough, there was a young man playing 
Akira at Go.

"Go! Let's go, Hikaru!" shouted Sai, excitedly shaking 
Hikaru's shoulders.

'All right! All right!' Hikaru thought, walking into the room 
towards Akira's game.

He noticed it the closer he walked to Akira and the young 
man. A kind of feeling, powerful and attractive. And closer, 
he saw it was coming from Akira's eyes.

They were filled with passion and concentration. There was a 
depth to them he had never seen before in anyone's eyes. He 
didn't understand any of it that he felt, but he felt a seed 
planted of wanting to be like that.

'It's just Go though,' he thought. 'A game for old geezers.'

"He's kind of cool," said Akari.

Feeling a twinge, Hikaru quickly tried to dismiss everything 
he was feeling. 'Ain't nothing special,' he thought. He then 
watched Sai rush to the game, to stare over the board. 
'What's with him?' he wondered. He went to the board, and 
looked at it.

It looked like a total mess. Glancing at Akari, Hikaru saw 
she didn't understand what she was looking at either.

Sai seemed to read the board, and then he began to examine 
Akira's eyes. "He's very strong. He isn't a normal child...." 
he said, mostly to himself. He looked at Hikaru, and then 
whined, "Hikaru! I want to play him! Let me use your body!"

'What!?' Hikaru gave Sai a sour expression. 'My body's mine! 
So's my mind!' He then thought, 'And I thought you said you 
can't possess me!'

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Sai said. "I can't possess your body, but I 
can tell you where to place the stones. So please? Hikaru?"

'No way! I suck, and he knows I suck. What would it look like 
if I suddenly knew how to play, huh?' Hikaru gave Sai a stern 
expression. 'I'd get into big trouble!'

Noticing the sounds coming from the match had stopped, Hikaru 
looked to see Akira bowing to his opponent. "I resign," Akira 
said to the young man. "Thank you for the game." He then took 
a deep breath, and then began to clear stones off the goban.

"Always so formal, Akira," said the young man, quickly and 
enthusiastically. "You make me feel like I'm an old man, the 
way you treat me." He then seemed to notice Hikaru and Akari. 
"Oh, hey!" He stood, and then bowed to the two kids, who 
returned his greeting. "You must be Hikaru and Akari! I'm 
Ashiwara, a friend of Akira's! I heard about you two 
yesterday from him, and was wanting to meet the kids who got 
him so excited!"

Ashiwara's energy was hard to deny. Both Hikaru and Akari 
gave him sheepish smiles, and waited from him to say more, as 
there was a feeling in the air that he would speak no matter 
who else wanted to jump into the conversation.

"Actually, to be honest, when he told me that you two were 
coming to receive lessons, I thought, maybe I could help!" 
Ashiwara gestured to Akira. "He's so quiet and polite and shy 
that he needs a push every once in a while to get him in the 
right direction."

"Ashiwara!" said Akira, warningly.

"Grab a seat, you two, and sit with us!" Ashiwara said, 
gesturing to chairs near the table. "Then we'll get started!" 
He arranged the stones on the goban into a pattern. "Black is 
in danger. It's Atari!" he said. "Can either of you save 
black?"

Akari was first to try. However, Ashiwara placed down a white 
stone, putting black right back into Atari. Shindo then 
tried, but ended up with the same result.

"You notice it?" Ashiwara asked. However, Hikaru wasn't 
listening, placing another black stone down. "Atari!" said 
Ashiwara, placing down another white stone. "See it yet?"

"C... can't get away," said Hikaru.

"Yes, this is called Shicho, when your stones are put into 
danger and can't escape," said Ashiwara. "There's just no 
getting away, so you better give those stones up." He placed 
down a white stone, closing off black. "And when you're 
playing somebody, and then you do this to them, you say, 
thanks for the meal!" He happily smiled. "Although it's 
illegal to make two turns in a row." He took all the stones 
off the board. "And uh, don't actually say that! That would 
be rude!" he said, almost as an afterthought.

He then started a game with Hikaru, giving him a handicap.

"Aw, I don't think I'll ever get this game!" said Akari, 
leaning forward, examining the board and the placement of the 
stones.

"It'll come with time," said Ashiwara. "Right, Hikaru?" He 
placed down a stone, completely surrounding a large cluster 
of Hikaru's pieces. "Thanks for the meal!"

"Ah, jeez!" said Hikaru. He grimaced, hearing Sai laughing 
behind him. He also noticed Akira covering his mouth with his 
hands as though trying to restrain his own amusement. 'This 
ain't too bad,' he thought, breaking into laughter only when 
Akari also starting laughing.

After a couple more games between the four of them, Hikaru's 
grandfather then approached the group. "It's time to leave, 
Hikaru. Akari."

"Just one more game?" asked Akari, turning to look at Takuya.

"Eh?" Takuya scratched his head, looking at Hikaru and Akari 
slightly curiously and fairly pleased. "I guess one more 
won't hurt. We have plenty of time to get home."

"Okay, Hikaru! Let's play each other!" said Akari, sitting at 
Hikaru's table. "I'm white!"

"No way!" Hikaru protested, grabbing for the goke holding the 
white stones. However, he only grabbed it as Akari wrapped 
her hands about the go stone bowl, resulting in the two of 
them playing tug of war.

"Nigiri! Nigiri!" nervously said Ashiwara, trying to cut in 
between the two rivals.

"Nigiri?" asked both Hikaru and Akari.

"Okay Akari. Place one stone down if you think the number of 
stones in Hikaru's hand is odd, or two if you think it's 
even," said Ashiwara, moments later.

Akari placed two stones down on the goban, and waited for 
Hikaru to open his hand.

There were three stones, they found, so Hikaru ended up as 
black.

"This is used to see who goes first in an even match," said 
Ashiwara. "If the guess was right, then Akari would've gone 
first. But since she got it wrong, you're going first 
Hikaru." He handed Hikaru the goke containing the black 
stones. "Black always goes first!"

"Ah! But I wanted to be white!" said Hikaru. He glared at 
Akari, who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Now wish your opponent good luck for the match!" said 
Ashiwara.

"Good luck," said Hikaru and Akari to each other.

Taking a glance out of the corner of his eye, Hikaru noticed 
there was joy covering Sai's face. 'Why you so happy?' he 
wondered.

"I love watching games between beginners!" said Sai. "There's 
so much they don't see that it becomes really intense! More 
so than games between pros!"

Placing the first stone down, Hikaru looked around at all the 
Go veterans watching, as they were all wearing pained 
expressions. "What?" he asked.

"Your first move is on the tengen. The centre of the board," 
replied Akira. He happily smiled. "But that's okay since you 
two are just starting to learn how to play." He looked at 
where Akari placed her first stone. "Learning how to play for 
territory is something you should learn after playing for a 
little while."

Hikaru put down another stone, right beside Akari's last one. 
"Territory?"

"Getting more territory than your rival is the real point of 
Go. But that's kind of hard. You should get used to capturing 
stones first," said Akira, getting more interested in the 
game.

"Cool," said Hikaru, after placing down a stone totally 
surrounding two of Akari's white. "I think I'm starting to 
get the hang of this!" He then said, "You're kinda able to 
see the way things move, huh?"

Akari place a stone down, capturing three of Hikaru's stones. 
"I'm winning!"

Glaring at Akari, Hikaru looked, and saw there was no more 
room on the board to put any more stones down. "Now way! I 
lost!"

"Yeah. I captured more stones than Hikaru!" said Akari, to 
general applause of the four spectators.

"Now you thank your opponent for the game," said Ashiwara. 
"And then you put the stones away in the goke."

"Thank you very much for the game," Hikaru and Akari said to 
each other, but Hikaru would be lying if he said he was happy 
to have lost. Especially to a girl! But a feeling deeper than 
his thoughts was nagging at him that he was sore because it 
was Akari whom he lost to, and that if it were any other 
girl, he'd just be mad for losing as if it were a guy he were 
playing.

He tried for disinterest, and thought out loud to himself, 
'It's just Go! As if it matters!'

"It's... it's just Go?" asked Sai, behind him. "But... but 
Hikaru! Hikaru! It does matter!" Hikaru thought he heard a 
waver in Sai's voice, as though the ghost were ready to begin 
crying. "Hikaru!"

'No way! He is!' thought Hikaru, hearing Sai sobbing. Trying 
to ignore Sai's weeping, he turned to Akira. "Um, do you 
wanna hang out sometime? Maybe come over? Play video games?"

Akira's face turned from happy to slightly surprised, and 
perhaps even a bit hesitant.

However, before Hikaru felt Akira was going to decline the 
offer, Ashiwara jumped into the conversation, "That's sound 
great! Maybe if you don't mind, he'll come over tomorrow!"

"Ashiwara!" said Akira, looking displeased at the young man.

However, Ashiwara didn't seem to hear Akira's protests, and 
asked Hikaru and Akari again, but was answered instead by 
Hikaru's grandfather, "Well, we'll be taking a look at the 
Children's Go Tournament tomorrow."

"That's perfect!" said Ashiwara.

"Um, Hikaru...." said Akari, whispering. "Aren't we meeting 
tomorrow to study Social Studies?"

Hikaru didn't answer, as it was obvious now that they weren't 
meeting for Social Studies anymore. 'Hey, Sai! Sai!' he 
thought. 'Quit crying! We're going a Go tournament tomorrow! 
Sai! Children's Go tournament!'

"Really?" Sai suddenly appeared and leaned forward almost 
touching Hikaru nose to nose.

Leaning back, Hikaru felt Sai's sudden enthusiasm was almost 
too big for the room for him to fit into it too. 'Yeah, 
tomorrow,' replied Hikaru. He lost his balance, but only 
after Sai returned to his normal upright position.

"Hikaru? Quit playing around! Or we'll leave you behind," 
said his grandfather, turning to the exit.

"Ah, okay!" Hikaru stood, sheepishly bowed to Akira and 
Ashiwara, who were both watching him curiously, and then ran 
after Akari and his grandfather.

Hikaru found the evening was not going to be pleasant. When 
he walked through the front door, he saw his mother. She had 
a worried expression as though somebody told her something, 
and it had to do with him.

"This is your mother, right Hikaru?" asked Sai.

'Sai, don't talk to me unless I talk to you,' sternly thought 
Hikaru, sensing there was no time for small talk.

"I'm sorry," said Sai.

"Hikaru, I'm a little concerned," said his mother. "Your 
teacher contacted me about your most recent marks...."

Somehow, at the end of his mother's talk with him, he had 
ended up at the kitchen table, reading his Social Studies 
textbook. Well, he was trying to read, but Sai was running 
about, fussing and examining all the appliances, as though 
he'd never seen anything like them before.

'How'd this happen to me?' he wondered, bitterly. 'Why me?' 
He snuck a glance at Sai, who was tapping the toaster as 
though afraid it might bite. 'Sheesh!' he thought, when Sai 
found the toaster to be harmless and shifted his attention to 
fridge.

"Hey Sai, where you from?" he asked, eventually, after 
inwardly debating with himself over whether it was a good 
idea or not. He then wondered, 'Maybe ask him when?'

"I lived in the capital during the Heian period." Unbidden, 
Sai then added, "I lived at the palace tutoring the Emperor 
in Go."

Hikaru decided to let Sai continue speaking, as he felt it 
would be more interesting than what he was reading. Besides, 
wasn't Sai from the past? Then he was practically already 
studying by listening to the Go freak ghost!

"Everyday, I played and taught Go."

'Scratch that,' thought Hikaru. 'I bet if it didn't have Go 
in it somehow, then he didn't know what was going on around 
him.' He opened his book, and started to read. However, he 
kept some attention focused on Sai's story.

"Everyday, until the Emperor's other tutor suggested to his 
majesty that only one tutor was necessary. It was further 
advised that we tutors have a match to decide who should 
continue in the post. Naturally, never refusing a challenge, 
I accepted the other tutor's suggestion." Sai paused. "I 
suppose there is some small regret for not seeing how greatly 
the events following my acceptance would affect my life."

"The day of the match. The game proceeded smoothly and 
evenly. Both of us were strong, and could see far." Hikaru 
listened more attentively, as Sai's voice now had a power to 
draw in like a vacuum, it was so focused. "However, my 
opponent was also clever in ways I could never understand. He 
somehow knew that even under the gaze of all the spectators 
and judges gathered to watch he could get away with it, the 
moving of a wild stone of mine in his goke to his futa. The 
futa, the lid of the goke, is where the opponent's captured 
stones are placed, my student," with a small knowing smile 
said Sai to a now fully attentive Hikaru.

"Somehow, my opponent must've known I had noticed his breach, 
for as I was about to ask him what he had done, he erupted, 
claiming it was I who had done this very same wrong onto him! 
I wasn't strong enough at that point to rebuke his claim, for 
I was simply too surprised." Sai's voice trembled, and then 
steadied. "The wise emperor felt such a deed could not occur 
before him, and set us again on our game. However, I could 
not no longer bring forth my full strength against my foe, I 
was so upset with the events that had transpired."

"He cheated, and you get sacked?" asked Hikaru, angrily.

"It was worse than that, Hikaru," replied Sai. "With his new 
position and power, my foe was able to convince the emperor 
to drive me from the capital under the charge of cheating. My 
name was stained.... My life was stripped away from me. I 
could no longer play Go. It was soon afterwards that I felt 
there was no other choice... but to end it."

Sai sighed. "I've already told you some of what had happened 
after I threw myself into the river. My deep desire to play 
Go held me here on Earth. I could not pass on, but instead 
possessed a Go board where I lay waiting for a release for a 
thousand years."

There was something new inside Hikaru for Sai that had been 
planted during the story, he felt. It was grudging, but it 
was... a little bit of respect, he decided. The man had a 
love so strong it kept him from Heaven or wherever, and he 
continued to keep loving the game despite being trapped in 
some possibly damned Go board for a thousand years. There was 
one thing he had to know though, so he asked, "What was the 
name of the emperor and the guy you played Go against?"

"Hikaru, this is here and now. While that time is not fond in 
my heart, it has happened. To keep the names of people who 
played the roles in bringing me here would be to betray what 
has kept me from truly ever dying." Sai then said, his voice 
intense, "I must attain the Hand of God."

What did he want? Hikaru suddenly felt very pale, compared to 
Sai's passionate and fiery words.

Hand of God?

What was there in his life that he lived for, desperately?

Something rebelled in Hikaru though, against these abrupt 
feelings he was having. He was young, and there was so much 
to do! Go was for old people, and he'd play it when he was 
old. But for now.... "I've gotta pass Social Studies," he 
said, luckily at the same moment his mother opened the 
kitchen door to check up on him.

It was the next day, when he said to Akari, after school had 
ended, "I think I scraped through it." He sighed. "I hope the 
teach stops giving us those makeup tests! I can't stand no 
more!" He hung his head. "Stupid, stupid! Stupid Socials!"

"I think I passed all of 'em," said Akari, to Hikaru's 
annoyance. "But it's only the best mark out of the three 
tests she's using, right?" She looked hopefully at Hikaru. 
"Maybe, if you're lucky, then everybody else passed it too, 
and she won't give anymore of those tests!"

"Maybe...." said Hikaru, still doubtfully. "The teacher loves 
tests though." He then sighed. There was still the subject 
they couldn't talk about in school, but seeing as there were 
none of their friends in hearing distance, he asked Akari, 
"You think we should ditch Gramps? You wanna go to some dumb 
Go tournament?" He heard a gasp from behind him, but since 
Akari couldn't hear Sai, he pretended he couldn't either.

"Ah, what would happen if we didn't meet Grandpa?" Akari 
asked, worriedly. "Wouldn't he tell on you about trying to 
steal that goban?"

"Crap, forgot about that," said Hikaru, dejectedly. "But it 
really wasn't trying to steal. It was more like trying to do 
something with something that he didn't do anything with 
anyway!" He heard sobbing from behind him, so he thought, 
'Hey Sai! We're going to the stupid tournament, okay?' He 
then thought, 'At least when he cries, it doesn't make me 
sick anymore. It is annoying though.'

"That's stealing!" said Akari.

"Well, if you didn't tell him, we wouldn't be in this 
situation!" said Hikaru, after a while.

"Like it's my fault! It was your stupid idea in the first 
place!" said Akari, almost immediately.

"It would've worked if you didn't open your dumb mouth!" 
shouted Hikaru.

"Idiot!" replied Akari, and then was silent.

It would usually be at this point that Akari would stomp off, 
realised Hikaru. But today they were chain-ganged by destiny 
to go to a Go tournament. 'And quit crying!' he forcefully 
thought at Sai.

"Go.... Go isn't dumb!" replied Sai, hiccupping.

'Freak!' thought Hikaru, silently.

"You know...." said Akari, after some time had passed. 
"You've seemed kind of weird ever since that... day."

'Same old Akari,' thought Hikaru. 'Blows her top, and then 
goes away, and then comes back, and she's the same as usual.' 
But her worry about him was something he really didn't 
expect. And this time she didn't go away before calming down.

That day, when he got attached to a Go freak. Yeah, he knew 
he was weird now, what with a ghost following him around, but 
no one needed to know about that. "I'm okay."

"But... you're talking to yourself, and people are wondering 
why you keep shouting out in class!" said Akari. "You scared 
the teacher when you screamed something about that airplane 
earlier."

"It was amazing! There's actually people in those big iron 
birds?" said Sai, adding in his two cents.

'Shut up," thought Hikaru to Sai. "Look, I'm okay, alright? 
So just drop it!" he said to Akari.

"Hey, Hikaru! Hikaru!" said Sai. "Will we be riding in a 
car?" His voice sounded hopeful. "So fast!"

"No!" Hikaru gritted his teeth.

"What?" asked Akari.

Hikaru felt that he wanted to scream, but he had to settle 
for a single statement, "Such a pain!"

"Fine!" huffed Akari.

It was to Hikaru's grandfather's they were headed, and it was 
at Akira's Go salon where they, with Hikaru's grandfather, 
eventually ended up.

Akira greeted them all warmly enough, but it was plain to 
Hikaru that the idea of not devoting his spare time to 
playing Go was not sitting well with his new friend.

Hikaru felt this feeling Akira was spreading outwards was the 
reason why Ashiwara was extra enthusiastic, as though somehow 
inspired by the idea of perhaps getting the boy to enjoy 
something other than Go.

"Well, Uncle Shindo!" he said to Takuya. "We're all here! So 
we should get going to the tourney, hmm?" He had in his hands 
a piece of paper, which Ichikawa had handed him earlier. 
"Looks like we need to take the subway, and then we'll be 
there!"

Leaving the salon, Hikaru heard Ichikawa say to a glum Akira, 
"Try and enjoy yourself, okay? It'll be fun!"

Outside, following his grandfather and Ashiwara who seemed to 
be in an animated conversation about some penguin or whatever 
tournament, Hikaru shared a glance with Akari at Akira, who 
seemed to be trying to steel himself to the trip ahead. "Eh? 
What's up, Akira?" he asked.

"Huh?" Akira said. "Oh. Nothing." He seemed to relax a 
little, and trot up to be beside Hikaru. "Just wishing I 
wasn't going, I guess," he admitted.

"Why?" asked Akari. That was a question Hikaru wouldn't have 
asked, so he was a little worried about whether this would 
ruin whatever conversation was just starting. "Worried?"

"Oh... yeah," said Akira. "There's someone who might be 
there...." He said no more.

Hikaru shared a puzzled glance with Akari. The kid really 
liked to keep to himself, it seemed. He was much more alive 
around the goban than outside in the fresh air.

"You're good at Go, right?" Hikaru asked. It was the only 
question he could think of.

Akira seemed to blush, and seemed to squirm from Hikaru's 
passing interest as though threatened to be put to the 
screws. "Um, my father has taught me since I was two how to 
play."

That seemed to be all the answer Hikaru was going to get, so 
he asked Akira, "If you're good, then why ain't you in this 
tournament we're going to?"

The way Akira began to act made Hikaru feel guilty for even 
asking such an innocent question.

"Well...." Akira struggled for an answer. "It... it wouldn't 
be fair." The response he gave seemed to drain him of some of 
his will, yet in some strange fashion, it also seemed to make 
him realise something.

"Eh?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm strong," said Akira. "Too strong to play against others 
my age. It wouldn't be fair." He seemed to sigh, as though a 
weight was released from his stomach and breathed out into 
the air where it dissipated.

"Hmm?" Hikaru looked to Akari, but she looked to him. They 
both sighed, feeling like outsiders trespassing in a world 
not their own. But now it was less uncomfortable being around 
Akira, it seemed.

After riding on the train, or a big metal snake as Sai called 
it seeing for the first time, they had arrived at the 
tournament.

"Ogata should be here," said Ashiwara, to everyone in 
general.

"Ogata nine-dan?" asked Takuya, excitedly.

'Nine Dan?' thought Hikaru. 'Nice name!'

"Nine-dan is Ogata's rank in the Go world," said Ashiwara, 
again generally. "I'm four-dan right now." He turned and 
further explained his relationship with Ogata to everyone 
despite not having been asked for it, "Ogata and I both study 
under Akira's father, Koyo Toya Meijin. Akira's always there 
with us too, right?"

'Toya Meijin....' Hikaru thought, trying to remember where it 
was he heard that name. "Wait! That guy! Outside the Go salon 
yesterday!" He turned to Akira. "So your dad is him, huh? Was 
he visiting you or something then?"

Akira again seemed uncomfortable. "Yeah. Something like 
that...." He thought for a moment, and then gave Hikaru a 
half-smirk. "You talk as if you don't understand anything 
about the Go world! My father usually gets a lot of 
attention, so if you don't recognise him.... He'd love that!"

"Yeah!" Hikaru replied, returning Akira's expression. "I 
don't know nuthin' Just going with the flow right now!"

"You sound proud," said Akari to Hikaru, frowning.

"Well, you know just as much as me," said Hikaru, feeling a 
ping of annoyance.

"At least I know when to keep my mouth shut," replied Akari.

Hikaru then muttered, "Except when it's important of 
course...."

"At least I think about things before I do 'em," said Akari.

"At least I...." Hikaru wanted to come up with a comeback, 
but could only settle for glaring at Akari. He heard Sai 
snuffling behind him, so he thought, 'Shut it! It ain't 
funny!'

A feeling quickly stole over him though, erasing any 
irritation he felt. He was suddenly in awe, as he entered the 
atmosphere of the children's Go tournament, and he found he 
was unprepared for any landing he would attempt inside.

All the kids were all so... serious! It was a world where he 
didn't belong, but had ended up anyway.

Swallowing, he stole a look at Akari. She also seemed like 
him. Adrift and perhaps even a little afraid, but it was 
Akira who was surprising.

The boy seemed to have in his eyes knowledge of what he was 
seeing, as though there was something incredible in the 
distance, and he was prepared to advance towards it, and 
arrive there, and....

'I always thought it was okay not to have somewhere to go,' 
thought Hikaru. 'Because I'm a kid. Knowing what I want to 
do. That's for supposed to be for later....'

He scanned the room, seeing kids with expressions on their 
faces that said out loud, "Yeah, the dream will be true one 
day, but I'll make it now because I can."

Of course, he didn't really think of it that deeply, but that 
was the feeling he felt, seeing the eyes of all in the room.

Well, there was the one kid, who upon seeing Akira, rushed 
off as though afraid. His eyes were full of fear, and Akira 
seemed as though he wanted to chase after him.

"Who was that?" Hikaru asked.

"I don't know," said Akira, honestly, slightly gloomy.

The kid knew Akira though, so Hikaru wondered if Akira was 
being honest.

Outside, later when the sun began to set, Hikaru was asked by 
Akari, "That was kind of cool, huh?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"I'm glad I came," Akari said. "Even though I didn't get 
anything of what any of those kids were doing at all! They're 
good!"

Hikaru said to Akira, who was leaving with Ashiwara, just 
coming out from the tournament, "Hey! Is it okay if I come to 
the Go salon tomorrow?"

"Sure," said Akira. "You too Akari, if you want."

"Yeah!" said Akari, excitedly, pumping her fists into the 
air.

"You're all coming again?" asked Ashiwara. "You're hooked! 
That's great! Maybe I can get Ichikawa let you in for free 
since you're all friends now!" He quickly received a doubtful 
look from Akira. "I'm sure it'll be okay, Akira! Your father 
won't know, and Ichikawa probably won't ask for too much, if 
she asks for anything in return for this secret!" He then 
brightened up. "And teaching them how to play might be good 
practise for becoming a pro for you! Your dad would be 
pleased with that, I bet!"

"Pro?" said Akira. "Yeah.... He might be...." He didn't sound 
enthused at the idea to Hikaru's ears, but it seemed Ashiwara 
didn't hear the uncertainty in Akira's voice, as Ashiwara 
turned about, hailing a cab. "Pro...." again said Akira.

"Well, I'll see you both tomorrow then," Akira said, as a 
taxi pulled up.

Hikaru's grandfather was the last out from the tournament. He 
looked exhausted but pleased. Together, Hikaru, Akari, and 
Hikaru's grandfather began to walk back to the subway.

Soon, it was just Hikaru and Sai, walking home alone. "Hey 
Sai. You must wanna play again, huh?" he asked.

"Yes," said Sai. "But I don't ask, because it's enough for me 
to watch."

Hikaru smiled with respect. "You really do love it, don't 
you?" There wasn't an answer, because there didn't need to 
be. He then said to Sai, quietly, "I want to play too."

***

Author's Notes:

Takuya isn't Hikaru's grandfather's name, but despite much 
searching in the net I haven't found what the actual one is 
if he's ever been named. Anyway, Takuya is a name quite often 
used. That is why I picked it. The same reasoning lies behind 
the name I used for Hikaru's grandmother: Mai.

I hope I explained the Japanese terms I've used well enough 
in the story itself, but here's a review. If I've missed 
anything, please let me know. I don't want to be confusing!

Ko: a situation in Go, where an infinite cycle of the players 
taking each other's stones forever can develop. When ko 
arises, a rule states the next move after ko must be made 
elsewhere on the board.

Goke: the bowl or basket holding the Go stones of either 
black or white.

Futa: the lid of the goke. Holds captured enemy stones.

Atari: when a stone or group of stones is one move away from 
being captured.

Shicho: when a stone or group of stones is one move away from 
being captured, and cannot escape the enemy's shape 
surrounding it.

Nigiri: a procedure to decide who's black before the game 
begins (and thus who goes first, since black always goes 
first).

***



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