Hikaru is a normal 12 year old boy. He likes playing soccer, goofs of in class, enjoys the arcade... Unfortunately for him, when he hits middle school his childhood friend, Akari is introduced to the game Igo. A game he denies his past with, and now he has a friend determined to make him learn. She feels that his seeming fear of go, can be cured by exposure, and learning to play. His Grandfather is delighted when he learns of Akari's interest in go, and getting him to play the game he harshly declared was for old men.

Flashback

When Hikaru was 7 his parents left him with his grandfather for a week, they would be out of the country, and did not want him to miss that much school. He was enjoying the time with his Grandfather, and after scoring a 100 on a calligraphy test was allowed to look for a present from the attic.

Now in middle school, he has spent the past 5 years avoiding the board game go. It took him awhile to notice, but the longer he spent around go boards, the more he began to act like a Hernian era noble. He would speak more politely, and found himself grasping for a fan instinctively when flustered. He also dyed his hair except for his bangs in order to prevent a noticeable transformation, as his hair was going from a blond that was already odd to streaked with purple, the purple of the man in his dreams, Fuijiwara no Sai an Igo Tutor at the Emperor's palace.

End Flashback

Now he was running from his one female friend, Akari. She seemed to think that he feared Go, and would not leave him alone about joining the Go team. She did not get that prolonged exposure to a Goban was not something he wanted particularly, because someone believed amateur psychology would fix something so strange as reincarnation. Hikaru felt that if he was exposed to a Goban for any amount of time his ability to repress his past as Sai, which was already slipping would disappear. He was not sure if that was a good or bad thing, but he had made his decision when he did not know about Dissociative Personality Disorder, so his reluctance to change was justifiable. Now if only Akari would understand his reasons and let him escape.

While he did manage to escape Akari, he did so by stepping in to a small store. The heart of stone, as it was called was a small go parlor, and unluckily for him he now needed to pay or leave, and leaving met Akari while playing met the return of Fuijwara no Sai. His choice was taken from him when a brash man declared that if he was taking so long to decide it was obviously because he could not play go, and since this was a go parlor he should leave. This was all the convincing he needed, nobody got away with mocking him even if they were correct in their mockery. To make others acknowledge him was a goal that was worthy, he was pleased with and the part of him that was Sai felt it was a good goal also. Being mocked based on the fact he looked like a foreigner was something he had experienced for the majority of his life due to his blond hair, and more recently people mocked him, because he looked and acted like a delinquent. He could feel the presence of Sai growing with the amount of time he spent in the salon, but his honor was challenged, and he needed to prove himself.

"Yes I can play go I will even make a wager" he said his voice sounding like he was offended at the implications of the man's earlier comments, which truthfully he was. The man, he later learned his name was Kawai, one I he was not cute *cue pouty face demonstration of this fact*, appeared to think about it before asking rudely

"What'u wagerin', I dunno if you're worth the trouble"

"If I win you pay my entry fee, if you win I will wash all go stones here, and I will take you to my Grandfather and tell him that you are the one that convinced me Go is not a game for old men, and it is very interesting. He would be so stunned that he will likely pay you he would at the minimum give you his eternal gratitude," was the immediate response on Hikaru's part.

First Game

"Hah, boy I think I could learn to tolerate you, now if only you could learn respect for your elders. I do wonder who your Grandfather is?"

Kawai-San asked curiously with good humor.

"My grandfather is Shindou-san and you might know him he said he won the tournament for amateur Meijn some time ago, but with Oiji-san that could be anywhere from 5-20 years ago." Hikaru carelessly stated, he was of the opinion that a game as sacred as go should not be polluted by trash talk, but if Kawai-san was going to indulge, he was not going to refrain. Though he could tell already that Sai was emerging.

"Let us begin the game kawaii-san" Hikaru stated mercilessly going for kawai-sans already obvious hot-spot.

"Kid, for insulting me I won't hold back. Let's start, get ready for a'creamin" Kawai stated obviously upset from Hikaru's bating.

Nigiri.

-Brat you got white

-I know, I don't need a amateur's help with my go.

Who is this kid? He is very good he is making me sweat, the last time i had this hard of a time in an even game where I was black... I don't even remeber anymore how long ago it was. If this kid is this strong already at 12 and not yet an insei or a pro, he will be either a genius or terrifying in the future.

-Hah Kawai-san. You lose.

-For such a little punk you are sure good at go. Eh.

-Do you want to go over the game before the rest of the salon comes over.

-Nah brat, I know exactly what I did wrong. You are easily on the level of a pro or an insei, and while I was an insei that was a long time ago. You better watch yourself though Touya Akira is round your age and hes pro level to.

-Thanks, sorr about earlier, but i figured if you were going to insukt me I should not just take it.

-Youre ok for a brat, but if you dont wanna get mobbed by the other players here you should take of now.

Hikaru looks at the time and realizes that if he does not sprint home he will be late for dinner, and upset his mother.

-For all my fans. This is a first draft and will be edited more, this is the last update on this chapter. I will try to update weekly or at the least bi-weekly, but I have very little free time so please tell me if you would prefer more frequent updates with less edits or slower updates with more proof reading. Also if anyone has any omakes you want posted tell me please, I will try and incorprate any omakes I get in future chapters.

So I just started learning go Jan. 2, and in the interest of staying accurate I am time skipping most of the Kawai vs Hikaru game. This chapter has only the most basic editing on it. Please inform me if more editing and less updating, or more updates and errors is preferable.

-Omake: Akari finds out Hikaru plays Go

-HIKARU What are you doing?!

*Shifty eyes* Can I log off before Akari notices this a Go site and hide my username? Wait this is Akari silly self, damage control it is then.

-Akari it is not what you think it is I am playing go.

-You baka that is what I thought you were doing, I was just wondering when you learned to play Go and why you did not tell me. I would love to play shidougo with you.

-That is kind of why I never told you I play go Akari. If we play shidougo I would be unfairly advantaged, because I am