Okay, so recently I've rekindled my love for Hikaru no Go! Back when I had first watched it, I was still an innocent young thing with no knowledge of what "fan fiction" was. Anyway, I don't know why, but I always find the need to read a music!AU. Although in this one, Hikaru will be the only person who was originally from the story who plays an instrument. I'm gonna try and keep the Go playing to music playing 3:1, although I do enjoy myself a good violin solo. And I also don't have a beta, but I do try my best at editing. Anyway, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hikaru no Go.

Chapter one: The sound that started it

Brilliant symphonies resounded around the auditorium, earning enthusiastic applause from the audience. Among the audience, a young boy with black hair looked at the violin player's in awe, apparently too engrossed to pay his grandparent any mind. A young violinist caught his eye, and smiled at him gently. The boy grinned back, and the violinist turned toward conductor. The orchestra began once again, enrapturing the crowd once again. The song* began slowly, with the strings tentatively playing. It sooned gained a bit of momentum, trumpets beginning to play in the background. And then it fell back, with the woodwinds taking the lead. Clarinets sang, and soon a tuba began to play. The harmonies engulfed everyone, one boy in particular. His emerald eyes shone with new hope, hope only a child could have.

The concert had ended too soon, and there were shouts of "encore, encore!", but the conductor had said that they would be packing up. The young boy's grandfather pulled him along, saying that they could come another time. He grinned; he hadn't expected such a rowdy child to like classical music so much. While he had hoped for his only grandson to take a liking to Go, he was still happy that they had at least one thing in common. "Come on, Hikaru. If we don't hurry, your mother will have made dinner for nothing."

"Grandpa…"

"Yes, Hikaru?" He smiled down at him.

"I want to play the violin."

Shindo Hikaru was regretting everything thing that he had ever complained about. True to his word, he started to play the violin. Unfortunately, he found himself being frustrated out of his mind, even resorting to occasionally refuse to play. Although after about five minutes he would feel regret and head back to his teacher, apologize, and start the lesson.

It was soon evident to the violin instructor that her pupil was most definitely not any ordinary kid. When she had first agreed to tutor him, she had her suspicions. After all, bleached bangs? To top it all off, he seemed like an active child, preferring to be out playing soccer rather than practicing the violin. But as their lessons progressed, and the music got harder, Mrs. Nanase could proudly state that this child was a prodigy.

It had been nearly four years since Shindo Hikaru had started to play the violin. He was making tremendous progress, according to his teacher. He could now play intricate pieces, and his parents had the gall to call him a child prodigy. His grandfather had made it a tradition to take him to a local concert at least once a month, if not twice. Shindo Heihachi had been to had been the one to encourage Hikaru's lesson's, saying that it was good for the boy. Hikaru was grateful to his grandfather, although he could do without the constant "do you want to learn Go?". He was going to start 6th grade soon enough, and was determined to do well.

"Hikaru!" His grandfather yelled, interrupting his sight-reading. The piece was harder than what he was used to, but he was sure he could play it.

"Yes?"

"I need you to go get something from the attic! I think I left a bowl of Go stones up there."

"Okay, I'll go get them." He set down the paper, deciding he could work on it later. He made his way towards the steps leading to the attic. Dust covered nearly everything, but Hikaru didn't mind it too much. He looked for anything that had something to do with Go. A wooden board sat in the corner, with red stains. Hikaru carefully dusted it off, and observed the thin lines. He couldn't quite put his hand on it, but something was wrong. Hikaru gasped, and stumbled backwards, hitting the back wall. Red stains...blood stains?! Would something like that be in his grandpa's attic? 'Can you hear my voice? You can hear my voice, can't you?'

"Who is it?" He attempted to sound scary but, unfortunately, his high pitched voice gave his fear away.

'I found someone! I finally found someone!" Hikaru had begun to tremble by now.

"Is that you grandpa? Stop joking around!"

'The gods before me, I thank you. I… I… ' Hikaru gasped. The Go board had begun to glow. 'I will now, once again… return to the living world." Hikaru screamed, and then everything went black.

Being in a hospital was not all it's cracked up to be. In fact, it's extremely boring. Luckily for Hikaru, he had the friendly neighbourhood ghost to accompany him. While shocked at first (who wouldn't be, seeing as he was now apparently being haunted by a Heian ghost), Hikaru had found it quite a thrilling experience. He was usually stuck at home with nothing to do, so having a new face around was pleasant. He said his name was Fujiwara no Sai, and that in his lifetime he was the Go tutor to the emperor. He carried himself with with precision and grace; two things Hikaru himself lacked. Long locks of black hair shaped his face, and Hikaru had an awkward conversation in the beginning regarding what gender the ghost was. But Sai's stories of the past fascinated Hikaru immensely, making the long hours in the hospital somewhat bearable. Although Sai has the uncanny ability to remind him of himself; like the way that Sai sometimes whined like a little kid. Hey, Sai…

'Yes, Hikaru?'

You said you played Go, right?

'Yes, I did play Go.' Sai didn't know what Hikaru wanted to know.

Would you like to play again?

'Oh yes, Hikaru, I would! Go was my life.' Which was and understatement in so many ways; Go wasn't only his life, it was what had kept him on the Earth for a thousand years. Sai just didn't know how to convey his love to someone so young, someone who didn't seem to have the same passion for something like he did.

If you promise that it won't get in the way of my violin practice, plus school, I think my parents will let me start playing with my grandpa.

'Really Hikaru!"

Yup. Would I lie to you? Sai didn't want to answer that.

Hikaru stared up at the sign labeled "Touya's Go Salon". Sai had whined for days about wanting to play Go, making his hospital stay feel like an eternity. Although he was reduced to silence when Hikaru was playing the violin, saying that he looked and sounded beautiful. Sighing to himself, Hikaru slid open the bamboo door. He was greeted by a young woman behind a desk. She had strawberry blonde hair, and her smile was soft and polite. Hikaru observed the players around him, who were mostly old men. "Is this your first time here?"

The lady had a pleasant voice, light and cheerful, much like his own. "Yeah, it is."

"Have you played before?"

"Then, why don't you write your name here? You'll also need to write down your rank." She handed him a pen and clipboard.

"Rank?" Sai hadn't said anything about ranks.

'That's because they weren't around when I was alive.'

"It's how strong you are."

"Er, is it alright if I don't put anything?" While Sai said he was strong, Hikaru didn't know anything about ranks.

"Of course! Is this your first time playing?" Hikaru nodded. Right then, he spotted a young boy sitting alone at a table.

"Hey! Is that kid free?" The boy looked up at him, briefly making eye contact.

The boy was now walking over to them, with a faint smile on his face. He had dark brown hair, although in the lighting it looked more like green. But what struck Hikaru was his eyes; they were green like his, although they appeared more aqua. "Are you looking for someone to play? If so, I can play you."

'Hikaru… this boy doesn't seem normal…'

How so?

'I can sense great potential from him. Oh, Hikaru, let's play him!'

"Ah! Akira-kun! You might not want to he's…" But the boy, Akira, put up his hand. He beckoned for Hikaru to follow him. "Wait! He still needs to pay the children's fee…"

"Oh, right, sorry…" Hikaru shuffled through his pockets for his wallet. "How much is it?"

"500 yen." He handed her the money and headed toward to where Akira was waiting. He awkwardly sat down in the chair, and looked down at the goban.

"My name's Touya Akira."

"I'm Shindo Hikaru; 6th grade." Same age… thought Touya.

"How much of a handicap do you want? Four or five stones?"

'A handicap?! Against me? Pfft, I haven't needed a handicap in more than a thousand years! Hikaru, ask for an even game.'

"Uh, can we play an even game?" Touya looked mildly surprised; he hadn't played an even game with someone his age in around five years. But he nodded his head nonetheless; better not crush his dreams and play shidougo with the other boy, Shindo. They then did nigiri, and Hikaru won black. Sai could hardly contain his excitement; he hadn't played in so long that it brought tears to his eyes.

Um, Sai? Are you really that happy?

'Yes. Yes I am Hikaru. Now, let us start. 17, 4 Upper Right-komoku!'

It was around halfway through the game until Akira had noticed that the boy in front of him had been playing shidougo with him. And it was around the end of yose that Akira noticed that he was not going to win this game. He was close to resigning, but had decided against it. After all, he might have just estimated wrong. How could a random kid from the streets beat him like it was nothing? But once they had counted up their territory, Akira had found out that he had, indeed, lost by 2 moku… "Well, I better be going! Bye, then!" And with that, the blond banged boy fled from their game on the goban.

"Did you finish your game?" The lady at the counter asked him.

"Yeah, looks like I'm not quite ready for a game yet…" Not quite ready? He just defeated Touya Akira, Go prodigy, son of the Meijin, and he says he's not ready?! Akira stopped listening to their conversation, and stared back down at the board. 2 moku. If you added komi, Akira had won, but that didn't matter to him. What mattered was that he had been beaten by a no-name kid who seemed like he had taken a wrong turn after a soccer game. A no-name kid who had undoubtedly beaten him by 2 moku without a second thought...

Okay, I do have more of the story, but I don't have enough for a full chapter. It also doesn't help that I totally forgot about the Children's Go Tournament. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Please comment and review!