Blank no Go
Because Yui-Mag thought this was an interesting concept, here we go. I mentioned in a review to Yui-Mag's fics (which I highly encourage you to try, as the Hikaru no Go angst ones are superb) that I would enjoy seeing a story in which Hikaru never lived, which I referred to as "Blank no Go." As this idea was approved by both Yui-Mag (who asked me to write it) and Pure Shikon, and so the story was born. (Also, I worked out the specifics while trying to nap before the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In my opinion, it was the best of the five. What does everybody else think?) Anyway, I apologize for the long author's note. Please realize that this chapter is just to set everything up and that I sincerely hope the rest of the story will be much better. WARNING: This story is set around three years after the anime. If you have not gotten that far and encounter a spoiler, you have been forewarned! Rated T to be safe. Also, the standard disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go, as it belongs to Ms. Yumi Hotta and Mr. Takeshi Obata (who is also the artist of Death Note, which I was addicted to recently). If I did, the series would probably be titled Akira no Go, and Sai would still be around. Capisce? Wakarimasu ka? Good, good.
On with the story!
Prologue: Blank
It was the fifth of May. Thank God he didn't have a match scheduled; he would have skipped it. He instead took a day trip to Innoshima, returning later at night, thoroughly and completely depressed.
He finally turned on his cell phone; he had remembered too late that he had scheduled a game with Touya at the other pro's salon today. Oh, he was going to get chewed out for being irresponsible, or unpuncutal, or forgetful, or something – probably a word he had never even heard of that Touya had learned from reading the dictionary.
There were no messages. He stared at the phone in shock. There was no scathing rebuke from Touya, no calls from Waya or Isumi, no concerned you-haven't-been-around-lately-are-you-ok messages from Akari, nothing. Someone might have noticed he was gone! Someone might have realized he always mysteriously disappeared on May fifth.
He tried to convince himself this was just the product of his grief from losing Sai four years before. He entered his house; it was dark. His parents had left him a note saying that they had gone out for dinner. So they hadn't called either.
No, that was being unfair. He rarely responded when they left him messages, so why would they call? There was really no reason to.
He went upstairs to bed and fell asleep quickly.
When he was there, it was as if he heard his friends' voices.
"I could've survived without you, Hikaru," Akari's said, sounding exasperated – as if he had just been rude to her and she was responding thoughtlessly.
"Shindou-kun, really, you don't need to do that. You shouldn't be here if you're even trying it," Tsutsui Kimihiro's reprimanded – the original sentence was probably in response to a stunt he had pulled, like trying to balance a Go board on his head. But in this dream, it cut into him tangibly.
"Why the heck did you drag me here in the first place? I don't need your help!" Mitani Yuki's, obviously in response to his returning the other boy's money after having him join Haze's Go club.
"Geez, Shindou, why are you even here?" Waya's questioned, with Isumi's assent in the background. Definitely a hard critique on a stupid move he had made once.
"Hikaru, I really don't know why I came to possess you and not a Go player," Sai had answered his question once. But now it was accusing, hateful.
"Shindou, just leave!" Touya was shouting. They had been yelling at each other for nearly ten minutes over something stupid when the other pro had screamed that at him. At present, however –
"I know," he heard himself whispering. "But…really?"
"Yes, we would have lived our lives and been fine, had you never been here," Akari's voice responded, sounding unlike her usual self but close enough to be real, "Let me show you…."
(I realize Hikaru is sounding kind of emo, but I don't think he's ever quite gotten over Sai's disappearance. I don't think he ever truly will. I also needed a good excuse to write this story. The one I came up with may not be stellar, but…I have a feeling the succeeding chapters will speak for themselves. There will be six chapters following this and an epilogue, hopefully updated weekly. Please review! Especially if you don't like it: constructive criticism is very important to me. Thank you very much!)
