Ancient Angel
"Hikaru, what's wrong?" Akira asked.
The two professional Go players were sitting in Akira's apartment bedroom, and the blonde-banged boy had just lost his fifth game in a row during a two hour time span.
"It's May," Hikaru sighed sadly, implying that his simple answer answered the question.
Akira's confusion grew, so he moved the Goban to the floor, scooting closer to Hikaru on the large bed. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"It's complicated, and you wouldn't believe me, anyways." Hikaru closed his eyes, leaning back onto the wooden headboard.
"Why do you say that?"
As the game went on, Akira began to realize that while he didn't recognize the game, he did recognize both playing styles."That's a game between you and Sai!" Akira gasped in amazement. I wasn't aware they'd ever played against each other…Akira's thought process was cut off by Hikaru's response.
"Yes," Hikaru smiled sadly, "it is."
Hikaru's recreated game ended and he cleared the board before beginning to recreate another game.
And so it continued hour after hour, Hikaru recreating games played between the young Go prodigy and the mysterious master of the game, Akira watching silently in amazement as Hikaru's skill grew with every game.
"Sai's the one who taught you how to play Go, isn't he?" Akira asked quietly after three hours of watching Hikaru recreate games.
The boy with a mysterious teacher nodded, grief shinning in his eyes.
"What happened to him?"
Hikaru closed his eyes. "Gone," he answered sadly.
"Dead?" Akira tried to clarify.
The boy shrugged. "You could say that."
All the while, Hikaru continued to recreate unknown and amazing games shared with someone besides the players for the first time."
"He was a ghost."
Akira blinked. "What do you mean, Sai was a ghost? Are you feeling ok?" he asked with a concerned tone hanging in his voice.
"Just what I said, Sai was a ghost. He taught the emperor how to play Go during the Heian Period. After he died, he came back as a ghost and told the Honinbou Shusaku where to place the Go stones; the actual person never played a single game," explained Hikaru, ignoring Akira's question.
"That's amazing, Hikaru!" the green-haired boy gasped, finally coming to believe his rival, convinced by the level of detail in the explanation. "But, if he was already dead, then where is Sai now?"
Hikaru closed his eyes once more, overcome with grief. "I don't know. Two years ago he just… disappeared."
Akira got off the bed, walked around the Goban's place, and sat back down, now next to Hikaru, folding the boy into his arms.
"I'm sorry for your pain, Hikaru."
Slowly, the gap between the two closed, and their lips met in a loving first kiss.
"I love you, Hikaru."
"I love you, too, Akira."