"Touya?" Hikaru looked at his rival pointedly over the goban. "You're playing terribly." Akira responded with a sharp slap of a black stone in the heart of white's territory. "Hey, Touya!"

"Shindo…your turn."

Hikaru parried the attempted invasion effortlessly, frown growing across his entire face. "What's with you, Touya? Where's your game today?"

"Shindo…" A powerful question was building behind those eyes. They weren't as pointed as Hikaru was used to seeing them. They weren't looking at the goban or glaring at him, sizing him up…they were too soft.

Hesitant.

"Do you…?" Akira's hand rose to his face, trying to figure out his own question. Hikaru waited a few seconds before sighing, swiping at the unfinished game and collecting his stones, dropping them in the goke.

"Shindo! What—?"

"Don't even think about playing like that against Ogata 10-dan next week. Where the hell are you right now? Because this is notTouya Akira." Hikaru pouted a bit as he gestured towards the goban.

"Sorry, Shindo. I'm…distracted today." He folded his hands in his lap.

"I'll say," Hikaru scoffed. "What's eating you this time? Too much time with Kuwabara-sensei?"

"Do...do you believe in ghosts?" Akira asked quietly, eyes fixed on his knees.

Hikaru blanched and rose quickly, almost knocking over his chair. "Of course not! That's ridiculous! What are you even talking about, Touya?" He was shouting. Startled, Akira snapped his gaze up to Hikaru's reddening face.

"…Shindo?" Mint eyes blinked slowly and Hikaru flushed deeper, sitting down almost as hastily as he'd stood up.

"Dammit, just never mind. What were you saying?"

Still rather flustered by his rival's outburst, Akira couldn't think of an appropriate way to bring up the topic. "My father…really wants to play…" he fidgeted in his chair, staring at his hands again, "…Sai. At least one more time."

"…that again…" Hikaru sighed. Akira had the grace to wince. "That is impossible." That shocked Akira into standing, leaning over the goban.

"What do you—" Akira bit off his inquiry at the desolate look on Hikaru's face. There was no way that Hikaru would talk to him about Sai just yet. No matter how many theories Akira tried to bounce off the other pro, Hikaru wouldn't entertain discussion about the subject.

"I've told you, Touya. Sai is gone." And he had told him. Just once, but quite decisively.

"Shindo, I've seen Sai." Hikaru looked up disbelievingly. "In your Go. Sai is definitely there." The statement nearly made Hikaru burst out laughing, but Touya was being serious.

"It's not the same thing. Not even close." His tone was borderline mocking. "You stilldon't understand."

"Then just tell me!" Akira persisted. "I have to find him! Shindo, my father—" Akira derailed, noticing the attention they were attracting. He straightened his clothes and sat down calmly. "Shindo, my father's health is failing. He's currently hospitalized in Yokohama."

"Eh?" Hikaru finally snapped back to himself.

"It's not too serious anymore, but he had another heart attack. It's being kept quiet. My father doesn't want a reaction like the last time he was taken ill. But he says he is gaining perspective. And Sai…he wanted at least to settle the score with him. To be honest, there are so many people that feel the same. Sai defeated many powerful players..."

"You really don't understand at all…" But Hikaru smiled at his rival. It was a sad, patronizing kind of smile. "All right. I will go and talk to Touya-sensei. But," he cautioned, seeing Akira's face light up, "I don't want you to come with me. And I can't make any promises about what will happen while I'm there. Sai is gone. I don't know what sensei was expecting, sending you like this."

Akira was affronted. "As if my father would do something so small. He did not send me, and I didn't need him to inform me that you were involved with Sai. Touya Koyo is not a man so ignoble that he would send a challenge by proxy." He let out a small sigh. "He will probably be furious with me for asking this of you at all. But if it is impossible after all…"

"I said it's impossible. I wouldn't lie about that."

'"About that," eh?' Touya thought, trying not to crack a smile. Especially seeing how close Shindo was to actual anger. Sure they argued often enough, but Akira was not so insensitive to actually want to see his rival emotionally distressed. 'No, definitely not that. Last time was…' He crossed his arms and studied the other pro's face carefully. '…the only other time I asked for Sai to play my father.'

"Why 'ghosts'?" Hikaru asked after a good bit of staring on both of their parts.

"Eh?"

Hikaru sighed emphatically. "Ghosts! You asked me if I believed in ghosts, Touya. Geez, you really are something today!"

"It was…just a bit of apprehension on my part. I wondered about that quite a bit when my father collapsed. Would he still be playing Go even when…?" Akira shook his head. "Well, this is all a bit too serious for now. He will recover this time and perhaps live many more years."

"…It's okay to worry about your father, Touya," Hikaru said softly. "It's better to worry, rather. That way…" Akira's gaze was intent and piercing again. "No, you're right. This is far too serious talk. Nigiri, Akira. Let's play a real game this time."

Akira smiled in spite of himself, his worries.

His questions.

And this game, Akira was white.

The train to Yokohama was tolerable. Hikaru replayed several games in his head to pass the time.

'Honinbou Shuusaku…

…Sai.'

Before he looked up the hospital Akira had mentioned, Hikaru checked himself into a hotel and found a ramen shop nearby. But he could only distract himself for so long before he began getting impatient. He collected his visiting gift for the former Meijin and set out.

"Touya Koyo…" he murmured, entering the hospital calmly. Finding the correct suite wasn't difficult, thanks to detailed instructions from Akira. He knocked quietly on the door before stepping inside.

"Please excuse me, Touya-sensei," he said, bowing slightly. He set the gift on the floor, groaning at its weight as he placed it gingerly at the foot of the bed.

"Shindo-kun!" Touya Akiko, Akira's mother, was there. Of course she was there. Hikaru felt stupid for expecting to find the retired pro alone.

"Shindo?" Touya-sensei was sitting up in the hospital bed and reading Go Weekly. "What a surprise! Did Akira tell you I was here?"

"Ah…yeah. Sorry to just drop in on you like this, but I thought I could maybe talk to you a bit…?"

"Akiko? Would you mind?" Touya Koyo asked his wife softly.

"Just make sure you're resting. Thank you for taking the trouble of coming, Shindo-kun," she said, kind smile on her face as she took her leave.

"So…what did Akira say, Shindo-kun?"

Hikaru sat on the couch beside the bed, remembering the last time he had visited Touya-Meijin in a hospital, when he had failed to bring a gift for the ex-pro. He hung his head slightly, looking at the bright white floor.

"Touya…er, Akira told me about what happened. He said that you'd gained a new…perspective, sensei. But truthfully, I'm a bit confused as to what that means…"

"I want another match with Sai," the ex-pro got straight to the point. "Doubtless this is why Akira bid you to come. There is much that I could discuss with a master like Sai."

Hikaru bit his lip and tried to think out exactly what would be best for the former Meijin to hear. "That's…rather, it's just…" He wilted visibly. "Completely impossible." After coming so far, he still couldn't say it. And so a great silence grew.

"…Sai," The old man sighed suddenly, "is not around anymore, is he?"

The question hung in the air for a short while.

"Sai…is dead," Hikaru almost whispered, balling his hands into trembling fists. "He has been for years."

"I see." Touya-sensei was quiet again. "Did you tell Akira this?"

"No. Akira wouldn't believe me if I did. I can still barely believe it myself." He looked up to smile hollowly at his rival's father.

'For now, I can be content with people remembering him, recognizing him, proving to me that he ever existed at all…'

"Can you tell me now…who was Sai?"

Touya-sensei chose that moment to turn his gaze to the boy's face and the sudden eye contact disturbed Hikaru. He knew that the former Meijin could see all of the emotions evoked just by mentioning Sai in that instant and wrenched his gaze away.

"I'll tell you what I can. That is why I am here today: because Sai respected you above all others, Touya-sensei." Hikaru took a deep breath to steady himself and the old man before him settled in to listen comfortably. "I met Sai for the first time when I was twelve."

Touya-sensei picked up on the significance of that at once. The point at which it all began…

"He taught me to play Go, but more than that, I acted as a vessel by which his Go could be played. That is how I beat your son, just a few days after meeting Sai. And that is why Touya went to such lengths to learn more about me and my Go. I couldn't even hold stones properly at that point. And when I faced you for the first time…" Hikaru trailed off, remembering the day absently, recalling the fear he had felt sitting before the Meijin.

"That was Sai…?" From the look on his face, Hikaru knew that the man was replaying those few moves made on their first encounter.

"Yes. And when I sat before you again…"

"Sai." He exhaled slowly. "Now I understand much better. And somehow, it still isn't…just who is Sai? Is he you, really? Or just some part?"

"You ask this, but there is no simple reply. I can say that every time I have stood before you, Sai stood before you as well."

"But not now."

"No. Sai is gone forever, I think. I haven't heard anything from him in about four years."

"When did you last hear from him?"

Hikaru smiled, eyes completely blank. "We were playing Go. One instant he was sitting across from me, and the next…" He trailed off, swallowing tears that were beginning to form. "I searched for him everywhere, but he was gone."

"Spirited away."

Hikaru had no response to that.

"Touya-sensei…Are you familiar with the name Fujiwara-no-Sai?" It was a longshot at best. There was no written record of anyone by that name.

"No. Is that Sai's full name?"

"It is."

"I am unfamiliar with this person. Have I ever met him?"

Another blank smile.

"Touya-sensei…do you believe in ghosts?"

"Shindo-kun…?" Hikaru had risen and retrieved the heavy box from where it sat and placed it before the ex-pro on his bed. The man regarded it severely before opening it. "Oh? A goban?" He pulled it gently from its packaging.

"It's special." Hikaru was almost whispering again as he placed the box back on the ground. "It once belonged to Honinbou Shuusaku." The words shocked the ailing man so profoundly. Already, his fingers were tracing the grid on top, exploring every nick and crevice in the wood.

"I cannot accept this gift, Shindo-kun. What were you thinking in bringing it to me? It is a treasure."

"I've already gotten everything I can from this goban. I can't stand looking at it anymore. I know that you can keep it safe and when—" Hikaru shook the tremors out of his voice. "When you can no longer use it, pass it down to your son. When that day comes, I will explain all of this to him as I have to you."

Touya Koyo's hands shook where they rest on the face of the goban. "I don't understand how this is related."

"Fujiwara-no-Sai died over a thousand years ago," Hikaru explained gently. He could feel Touya-sensei's shock far more than he saw it. "His spirit reappeared from this goban when it became the property of Honinbou Shuusaku, and again when Sai appeared to me after I found the board in my grandfather's attic."

Hikaru felt—really felt—that the once great Touya Meijin would understand if he explained this way because only Touya Koyo could have defeated Sai in an even match. Touya Koyo truly knew Sai's strength.

"The difference between Shuusaku and me is that he let Sai dictate all of his matches. Honinbou Shuusaku never played Go from the moment he met Sai. I only let Sai play in the beginning, and rarely after that because I selfishly wanted to build my own Go without calling too much attention to myself. What I'm saying is…Sai is Honinbou Shuusaku, Touya-sensei."

Having finished, Hikaru sat back down, watching the former Meijin absorb the information. After nearly two minutes, Touya-sensei crumbled. Soft, quiet tears made their way down his grizzled face.

"I see now. Ghosts…but why tell me? Why tell anyone at all?"

"On Children's Day about four years ago, Sai vanished from this world for good and I stopped playing Go. I thought that if it was a matter of will, then Sai should just take my body and play Go until he could finally play the Divine Move." Hikaru put more challenge into his tone. "He thought that together, you and he would play the Hand of God. But then…"

Hikaru froze, partly due to the instability he was encountering in his voice and the stunned look on Touya-sensei's face. Part pride, part hope, and part heart-wrenching devastation; the man knew just what he—and Sai—had been waiting for, for such a long time.

"But Touya Akira…" Touya Koyo's attention flashed back to Hikaru. "Akira saw Sai's presence within my Go. He only played three full games with Sai, but…" Hikaru smiled, "he never once looked away from Sai. And even now, I am erasing that image of Sai's back with a Go that, together with his, will achieve Sai's wish one day. I want to link Sai's dream to this millennium to the next millennium. In this way—" Hikaru bit off his sentence because Touya-sensei was looking at him, tears still wet on his face, positively beaming. It reminded him of—

"Truly, Sai and I have done it. As Sai taught you to play, I have taught Akira to play. And you two could not have met by coincidence. You were both chosen and brought together for exactly this purpose. Sai…Fujiwara-no-Sai…" Touya Koyo stroked the goban now as if it was the back of a child.

"Well then—"

"Shindo-kun?" Hikaru froze in his attempt to rise and leave. "Please, have a match with me tomorrow. I have never played a game with you, have I?" The smile, though much dimmer now, was still alive on his face.

"I'd be honored, sensei. I'll bring stones over before lunch and we can play after we eat."

Hikaru stared down at the game that was unfolding. His opponent was only a 6-dan, but he'd managed to get him so far-flung across the bottom and the center wasn't holding up at all.

'If I can take the left back before he solidifies the center, I can win for sure.' He exhaled slowly, snapping his fan back shut decisively. 'All right! Here…kikashi!'

As he slapped his timer, he became aware of a familiar pair of eyes watching him, or rather, his match. He snapped his fan open and shut before returning a glare to those aqua mint eyes, but they were too intent on the gameplay. Hikaru could almost feel him scoffing at his kikashi and thinking of at least six ways to effectively counter it.

'No, only five,' Hikaru amended, returning his gaze to the goban. But his current opponent wouldn't see all of them and didn't have the guts to attempt any but the obvious route, the beginnings of an intricate trap that the young 4-dan was still concocting.

But Akira was sure to give him hell about it after the match.

Much to his surprise, Touya actually sat down to watch the match conclude with Hikaru pulling out a resignation after successfully reconnecting the left side.

"What the hell were you thinking about, Shindo?" Touya demanded after his opponent had left. The game sat out for Touya to pull apart and fuss over. "Why would you invade at the top at that time? What a reckless diversion. If you had been playing me, you would have resigned there and you know it. Such sloppy play!"

"Touya, enough. You were not my opponent, so I played a lazy game to at least get some enjoyment from the end. Yoshida 6-dan allowed me way too much freedom, I grant you, but he underestimated me from the beginning. I'm starting to feel trapped in these tedious games."

'The games I'm not playing against you.' He didn't need to say it at that point. He'd already inflated Touya's ego enough for the day, and they hadn't even made it to their sparring session yet.

"Shindo…" Akira watched as Hikaru rose and walked over to record the match. The prodigy was almost disturbed by the lack of energy Shindo had been giving off since his return to Tokyo. Sure, he had lost to the former Meijin, but when they spoke on the phone, his father had assured him that he put up a nasty little struggle even if he had refused to actually show Akira the game.

"Geez, stop winning already!" he whined. "I'll never catch up. You're basically an 8-dan at this point!"

"You'll just have to start taking things more seriously, Shindo," Akira chided in good humor as the pair of them collected their bags and shoes.

"Yes, yes. Take good care of me, senpai," Hikaru teased back.

"Let's go play at my place," Touya volunteered, stepping into the elevator. "My parents won't be getting back until Saturday, so we can practice a lot for our upcoming matches."

"Oh yeah. You still have to play Ogata-sensei. Good luck with that," Hikaru groaned as he remembered, "And my next match is against Isumi. That guy…he's too strong now!"

"Oh? He and Waya are back from China now?" Touya inquired casually. Isumi had never been too big of a contender for Akira, but Hikaru always had trouble meeting his friend's challenge over the goban.

"Yeah. Their dan matches were all put on hold, but those two," Hikaru swallowed ominously, "are seriously scary now."

"Hmph. Don't admit defeat until it is breathing down your neck, Shindo. You often make this mistake against me as well."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Touya! I'll be even stronger tomorrow and even right now, I can beat you again today!"

"Don't be absurd," Akira scoffed back. "You haven't beaten me in weeks."

"Like I said! I'm stronger now than I was yesterday! I'll beat you every game starting now!"

"Damn. 2.5 moku? Is that all?" Hikaru sighed, snapping his fan. "You out-read my chuban before it even began. I messed up this part of yose…well, rather I waited too long and you—"

"Got impatient with you for screwing around in the top right! Shindo, if you knew I'd read through your chuban, why wouldn't you just concede and let us progress? This game shouldn't have even made it to yose! You're wasting so much time today! Why are you so laid-back? You're ruining my focus!"

Touya was fuming. Hikaru snapped his fan twice more before evaluating his yose again.

"You're right. It was rather lazy play still. I wonder if that game earlier threw off my game…?"

"Quit idling!" Akira ordered, swiping the game into piles. "Nigiri! I need you to pay attention this time!"

'I found you,' Hikaru mused, lying down. 'There's that look again.'

"Not yet, Touya. I can't get my energy back just yet."

"And that's your own damn fault! Who told you to stay in Yokohama an extra day?"

"Oi, Touya! Calm down about that! Why should it matter where I was; I was off that day anyways."

"…I was, too," Touya's voice became quiet, but Hikaru could feel his rival seethe. "You didn't even call. You didn't even tell your mother that you left Tokyo."

"Eh? You spoke with my mother?"

Akira pouted, fury still pouring off of him. "Your cellphone was off. And when you didn't answer at your apartment, I called your house next. You're so irresponsible about that kind of thing."

"What can I say? I'm the master of running away." Hikaru yawned, rolling onto his side.

"You shouldn't be fleeing; you should be chasing after me." A steel entered Akira's voice. When Hikaru made a noncommittal noise, the 7-dan just sighed, sweeping the stones back into their appropriate goke and he started replaying an old match.

"You know…" Hikaru started, clutching his fan tightly in his hand.

=chk=

=chk=

=chk=

Akira didn't falter in his steady rhythm, placing the stones one by one. It was soothing. "The days are beginning to get longer. Soon…"

=chk=

"…the sakura will bloom. And then…"

=chk=

=chk=

"…it will be summer. Very soon…"

=chk=

"Shindo, stop trying to be deep or sentimental or whatever and evaluate this game with me."

"Go…is it everything for you?"

=ch—k=

"Yes."

"Is that so…?" Hikaru sat up slowly. The stones had halted and Touya was looking straight at him. Those eyes…sizing him up…predicting his next move…searching for a weakness to exploit…

Hikaru could only meet those eyes for a brief instant before curiosity overwhelmed him. The goban…

"Shindo, what the hell is this game?"

Hikaru looked it over almost dismissively. "Why would you bring this up again? It was years ago."

"Answer me, Shindo! What the hell were you playing at?" Akira was so angry again. Why could he only make Akira angry?

"Sai was the one to play that game." It was his match against Touya Meijin as a beginner-dan.

"Did Sai really think this little of my father?" Akira demanded. "The match I saw—"

"Akira!" Hikaru shouted, catching his rival off-guard. "I was the one to put such a large handicap on Sai. With a reverse moku already, Sai would have floored even Touya Meijin. And you know it, too, so don't even start with me on that. Besides, Touya-sensei got his rematch in the end, so it shouldn't matter anymore."

And just like that, Hikaru found himself exhausted all over again. He slumped forward, elbows on his knees.

"…Were you that afraid of being pursued?" Akira asked quietly. "Did I really…frighten you so much that you even wanted to hide your Go?"

"Dammit, Touya, I already said that Sai was playing those games. Not me."

Akira knew it was past time to back off, but with Hikaru so lazy, so forthcoming…how much more could he learn? For years, questions had burned in the back, front, and every crevice of his mind. Could it finally be the time to have them answered?

"So…multiple personalities?"

"Absurd."

"Hidden cameras? Earpieces?"

"Absolute bullshit."

"Telepathy?"

"Are you stupid or what?"

Touya clenched his teeth. Shindo Hikaru was the only person who would ever call him stupid. He glanced back down at the game.

"What was the handicap imposed on this game? I'd say it was maybe…"

"15 moku," Hikaru answered. "I told him to play as if he was 15 moku behind."

"And it took 20 minutes for him to decide on a first move?"

"I wasn't planning on letting him play at all. He had to make up a completely fresh strategy as if he was that far behind. And he didn't tell me any of his strategy. Really…that kind of play is just unfair…"

"But it just looked to most others like a terrible game…" Akira deduced, "except to Kuwabara Honinbou and Ogata-sensei. But 15 moku…Did you really think that you had a chance of winning?"

"Would you listen to me? Sai played that game! I did not win or lose!" Hikaru swiped the stones on to the floor. "You're being ridiculous today, Touya."

"And you're being abnormal. Why are you acting so childish?"

Hikaru smiled to himself a little. "I had the best teacher in childishness." He rose and moved to lean in the doorway, enjoying the spring breeze from outside.

"Touya?"

"Shindo?" Akira was bitterly picking up the Go stones from the tatami, tossing each into the goke like a petulant child.

"Will you play Go with me when the sakura bloom?"

"Of course, Shindo," was the reply with a sigh that meant 'you idiot.'

"And will you play with me when it becomes summer again?"

"…Of course, Shindo."

"And on Children's Day…will you play with me in Innoshima?"

"…Eh?"

"No?" Hikaru frowned in Akira's direction, not looking quite at him.

"It's just rather…specific. Is there any—"

"May 5 was Shuusaku's birthday. I just wanted to go and show him that his Go is still very…alive."

'Shuusaku again. What on Earth…?'

"Only if I don't have a match. I'm not going to reschedule just for something like that."

A real smile from Hikaru then: all teeth and sincerity.

"And you, Shindo, will you play a game with me now or should I just throw you out?"

"Am I no good if I don't play Go, Touya?"

"No, you are decidedly not. But I will walk you to the station if you so desire." Akira looked at Hikaru's absent-minded smile once more and sighed fiercely. "In fact, I insist. I won't have you getting lost again and coming back to bother me in an hour or so."

"All right. Let's go, then."

Don't worry, boys and girls. It will get slashier later on. GOD I CANNOT ESCAPE ANGST-SPASMS NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY! Ugh...
Disclaimer: this is a fanfiction site. So this is therefore fanfiction. I don't own shit. Science!