A/N: Hello! This is my first HikaGo fic, and it was just something I thought of a while ago. I'll try to update I often as I can, and I'll hope you'll look past the grammar errors and spelling mistakes; English is not my native language. I'm not really sure about this, but yeah... R&R would be much appreciated!

The Road to His Legacy
Chapter 1

The silence in the room could be cut with a knife. It was suffocating; almost scary. The white walls looked like they were coming closer and closer, and they would soon be crushed. Even if they managed to escape the walls, they would still be crushed. The silence was suddenly disrupted by a badly disguised sob. A thirteen-year old kid with bleached bangs was sitting in an uncomfortable chair, even though he didn't seem to care of very uncomfortable it was, despite the fact that he had been sitting there for hours.

"Hikaru." Someone said. Hikaru looked up at a person lying in a hospital bed. Hikaru's eyes were glazed over and it looked like tears would spring out at any moment, even though he did his best not to cry.

"Yeah?" Hikaru said, forcing his voice not to crack. A sigh came from the person on the bed. He had no hair. Hikaru couldn't divert his eyes from the bald head; before, the person had had long hair, unusually long hair for a man. Now it was all gone.

"Don't cry." The person's name was Shindou Sai. His cheeks were sunk in, and his skin was scarily pale. There was a small smile playing on his lips, as usual. Sai was just that kind of person; always smiling, despite the situation.

"But…" Hikaru said, but he stopped. He couldn't control his voice anymore. He angrily wiped his cheek as he felt the first tear fall down. He had promised himself not to cry. Not yet.

"Will you play a game with me?" Sai asked, motioning at the goban waiting in the corner. Hikaru didn't answer. Instead he quickly got up from the chair and set down the goban on the bed and pushed over the black stones. Sai didn't say anything, just smiled and started to play what he loved the most; Go.

"We did everything we could." The doctor said in a monotone voice to Shindou Mitsuki. Mitsuki looked through the window to her son's room with a blank face. She watched as her youngest son carefully put down a stone and then glancing up at his brother, challenging him. Hikaru had always been like that. Daring, shameless, never afraid. His brother though was his complete opposite; Sai was calm and composed, and he always had a solution to everything. But they matched each other like only brothers could.

"I know." Mitsuki whispered to the doctor, even though she doubted him. They could've done more. They could've tried something new. Maybe they could try going through chemo again. But deep inside her, Mitsuki knew that Sai's time was running out. Fast.

She was the one who had noticed that something was wrong with her oldest son. She could see the scene inside her head like it had happened yesterday; she didn't think she'd ever forget it.

It had been a day just like any other. Sai had been trying to force Hikaru to play a game with him, but Hikaru refused, saying he would miss his soccer game. Sai had tried stating that go was more important than soccer, but Hikaru had just shrugged and left the house. She'd asked him to help her with the dishes. Dry them and put them into the cabinets. He would never refuse to help her. Misuki handed him plate after plate, and he carefully dried them. Then he'd dropped one. She had glanced over, snickering.

"Oh well, we had too many plates anyway." But Sai wasn't smiling. He looked shocked; scared maybe. She'd asked him what was wrong. He didn't answer. She had seen a flash of panic in his eyes before he tried to grab an already tried plate. He dropped that too. Misuki wasn't laughing anyway.

"What is it?" she'd said in a small voice, meeting Sai's scared eyes.

"Mom," he started with a shaky voice. "I can't grip anything. My hand… it's not working." He said with a tremor in his voice, sounding like a smile once again. He tried to grab a third plate. He had dropped that too.

"You're playing too aggressively, Hikaru." Sai said softly to his little brother. Hikaru glared up at him.

"I'm not. This is my style." Hikaru really was a sore loser. And if he wasn't leading, he would overplay and lose even harder. That was just one of the flaws in Hikaru's game, Sai mused. He glanced up from the goban to look at the kid with the so odd hairstyle. Hikaru's green eyes were focusing at the goban with an intensity only a go player could possess. Hikaru suddenly narrowed his eyes, grabbed a stone and put it down on a very critical point that Sai, in his musings, almost had missed. He looked up again, this time meeting Hikaru's eyes. 'How about that?' Hikaru eyes seemed to say, and Sai smiled again. Scanning the goban, he soon found a path he thought Hikaru hadn't seen. He was right. When he put down the stone he saw Hikaru eyes widen in surprise.

"How…" Hikaru whispered almost to himself, before pouting. "Not fair. You're going to be a freaking pro." Hikaru said, starting to clear his stones. Sai swallowed hard and looked down at his hands. Hikaru's voice, even though his brother hadn't meant anything by them, had stabbed in straight in the heart, right where it hurt.

"I was." Sai whispered, and Hikaru's body seemed to freeze to ice. Even the time seemed to stand still. "I was going to be a pro."

Hikaru didn't meet his eyes.

Hikaru had been at a soccer game with his school club when he found his mother waiting at him by the parking lot. He was feeling great; for once, he had actually gotten to play in the game, and he had made a beautiful pass that resulted in a goal. Coach had said that he'd done really well, which basically meant more playing time. His jersey and shorts were covered in mud, but he didn't care. He greeted his mother with a smile on his face.

"Hey, mom!" he said, but his mother didn't smile. She just looked at him, and that was the moment when he realized that something was very wrong. Very, very wrong.

"Hikaru." She said with a soft voice, and Hikaru's smile was long gone.

"What is it?" he asked, not sure what to expect.

"It's your brother." She said, and to Hikaru, it felt like someone had just gripped his heart with an ice cold hand. "He's at the hospital." Her voice sounded like a ghostly whisper. Hikaru's world stopped right there and then. It simply stopped spinning.

Sai had had a seizure during one of his games. The go stones had scattered in the air, and his opponent was about to ask what the hell he was doing before he realized what was going on. The entire room seemed to stop at that moment, and everyone stared at the shaking teen before calling an ambulance, rushing him to the hospital.

Hikaru glared down at the board. He could not believe he was losing. Again! He never seemed to win against Sai, no matter what he did. He wouldn't play with handicap though. He refused. Him, playing with handicap against his own brother? No way. He had never played with handicap against Sai, not matter how much Sai crushed him. Sometimes, Sai played teaching go. Other times, he cut him in two.

"You should've protected your territory here." Sai said when their game was done. Hikaru was staring at the goban with a displeased look on his face. "I could attack you by playing there, and boom, your corner's gone."

"Yeah, maybe, but while you're busy attacking my corner, I can attack this group here." Hikaru said, pointing to a white cluster of stone. Sai shook his head.

"No, that's not what you should do." He said, and Hikaru rolled his eyes. "If you do that, I'll simply play here, and then within two hands, they are connected. See?" Hikaru sighed. Sai was simply too good. He could read further ahead than Hikaru, even though Hikaru was getting stronger. Even Sai himself said so.

"You're probably right…" Hikaru muttered to himself, and Sai lifted his eyebrows.

"What's that, Hikaru?" he said with a smile on his face. "I couldn't quite hear you. You have to speak up."

"You're right!" Hikaru said with a louder, clear voice and Sai nodded.

"I know." Hikaru rolled his eyes again. "Don't you have a soccer game soon?" Sai suddenly said, frowning at Hikaru. Hikaru frowned back.

"No, it's tomor…" he stopped and tried to go through his memory. It was the fourth tomorrow, wasn't it? He realized with horror that today was indeed the fourth, and he would soon be in deep shit if he didn't hurry to the game. Sure, he would probably be a benchwarmer, but after the last game… You could never be sure with the coach.

"Crap! I'm late!" Hikaru said, putting back the goban into its place and running out from the hospital.

"Good luck!" Sai said after him before Hikaru sprinted down the hospital corridors. It was just lucky he didn't run anyone down.

He hurried out to the stressful city of Tokyo. He needed to get home to get his bag, to prepare for the game. Maybe this was the game where he would be the MVP? Maybe score a goal or two? Hikaru had yet to score a goal in an official game. But he wanted to. He wanted it so badly.

Sai stared out the hospital window. The cherry blossoms looked beautiful, but yet sad. He closed his eyes and sighed. He had been so close. So close. And it was all gone. He slowly opened his eyes again, and they landed on the goban, one of his most precious belongings. He loved playing go. He loved the swift elegance it had, it's never-ending complexity. You could never master it; never reach the Hand of God.

But he loved it. A smile started to play on his lips as he thought of his countless games with Hikaru. It was fun. But he wanted a challenge. He was so close. He closed his eyes again. His go would never reach the world of pros.