The pachii sound of light go stones coming into contact with goban was the only noise in the near empty Touya go saloon, the last patrons of the day locked in a deep and even game, both staring intensely at the bored with concentration only pros could harbour.
It was unusual for such a fierce game to be taking place without tempers flaring, in fact, while the air surrounding them was heavy with anticipation it also held a certain amount of tranquilly.
Akira's sharp eyes scanned the bored, his brow furrowed as he dug a small, black bead from the jar beside his elbow, placing it strategically in a move that helped his stones escape certain defeat.
Hikaru stared intensely at the bored, all the while silently opening and closing the small fan he clutched in his hands.
Although it certainly looked like he was preoccupied with the game, his mind, was in fact, elsewhere. He risked a glance at Akira and saw the longer haired boy's eyes flickered over the bored as if searching for any possible traps. Hikaru smiled softly and looked down at the bored before speaking.
"I had a dream last night."
"Oh?" Akiras' voice held polite disinterest. Not surprising really. Akira was more worried about go then the fantasies of the mind.
"I think I'm about ready to tell you now."
"Mmh…" Akira's mind so focused on the game did not immediately interpret what his rival meant.
Hikaru snapped his fan shut and slid a stone into place before taking a deep breath.
"About. Sai."
Akira, whose hand had been poised above the bored to take his next move froze, the stone slipping out of his hand to clatter noisily on to the table. He payed it no heed, looking up to face Hikaru with fierce eyes.
"You dropped your stone, Touya." Hikaru pointed out, nodding at the small forsaken stone. After a moment of hesitation Akira picked it up and place it where it belonged, turning quickly to look at Hikaru.
The elder boy pretended he could not see Akira's blatant stare, fishing his own white bead out and studying the bored. Akira let him be, allowing him to go at his own pace.
Finally, Hikaru set the stone on the bored and asked, "Touya, do you believe in ghosts?"
Caught of guard not only by Hikarus' strange words but by the bizarre move he'd just played that seemed to have nothing to do with the current game all Touya could do was stare at the unusually calm and collected boy before him before remembering it was his turn to respond.
"No, I can't say I do."
Hikaru grinned slightly, almost painfully. Akira watched him warily. "Why do you ask?"
"Shut up and let me talk."
Normally Akira would have responded with a retort just as sharp but he bit his lip and played his turn and waited for Hikaru to reveal something he wanted to know for so long.
Pachii.
Hikaru analysed the bored closely and reached for his stones. "Once, four years ago now, a twelve year old with out the slightest interest in the game stumbled across a blood stained Goban in his grandfathers shed while searching for things to pawn."
Pachii. Hikaru played his move.
Frowning slightly Akira tried to think up a response to Hikarus' interesting playing strategy all the while paying more attention to Hikaru who was silently fiddling with his fan.
Pachii.
Hikaru smiled at his rivals' choice of play. "Figuring he could get a nice sum for such an old looking thing he tried to clear the bloodstain off. But it wouldn't leave. Hearing something, he turned around and found himself face to face with a man dressed in strange clothing, his lips painted blue and a fan covering his face. The boy fainted."
Akira was completely absorbed in the tale by now and needed light prompting to play his move.
Pachii.
Pachii.
Pachii.
Akira waited impatiently for Hikaru to continue his story. It took him a minute to realize that Hikaru was staring at the bored with utmost concentration and even longer to realize that Hikaru must be seeing something else entirely.
"When the boy woke up the stranger was still with him. Only, nobody else seemed to be able to see him, nor hear him. Hell, he was nonexistent to anybody but the boy. The stranger told the boy he was the ghost of a long dead go player."
Akira tensed visibly, staring in blatant disbelief at Hikaru. Hikaru ignored him, sliding a white stone to an empty space had added in a voice barley above a hushed whisper, "That go player's name was Fujiwara Sai."
Sai. Akira's stomach lurched in sickening disbelief. Without paying much attention he played his move.
Pachii.
"Sai had committed suicide hundreds of years previously after falsely being accused of cheating during a go game that decided who would remain the emperors go instructor and become banished from the kingdom."
Pachii. Hikaru set his stone down and looked up at Akira who was staring at Hikaru with a dubious expression. Hikaru rolled his eyes. "It's your turn again, Touya."
"Right." The prodigy murmured.
Pachii.
" Sai had possessed one person before that boy. Kuwabara Torajiro."
Hikaru smiled to himself. Pachii.
" Better known as Honibo Shusaku."
Akira who had been listening with rapt attention nearly dropped the go stone again, barley succeeding in catching it before it fell on to bored. He opened his mouth to say something but seemed to think better of it.
Pachii.
Pachii.
Pachii.
"The boy allowed Sai to play the game he had so loved through him. Astonishing people with the astounding skill and in the progress, making a rival intent on chasing after the ghost of the long dead player. It was not long after the first few fateful games that the boy himself began taking an interest in the game."
Akira was trying to read his rivals expression but Hikaru was so lost in his memories that all his eyes held was a glazed, empty look.
"The boy began playing more and more, finding a love for the game and determined the make the rival who was only seeing Sai, see him. He became reluctant to let Sai play anymore, afraid that he would once again be overshadowed by the ghost. He allowed Sai to play go only one way. Via the internet."
Akira was shifting restlessly in his seat. Never before had he been so eager to hear what would be said next, it was something, he mused, that only ever occurred where Shindou was concerned.
"But Sai became notorious on the net and people began searching for him and the boy forbade the ghost to play internet go again. It wasn't long before the boy decided become and Insei to try and surpass his rival and make him see him. The ghost began to play only play go against the boy in the confines of his room."
Hikaru seemed to recall that he was in the middle of a go game and gave an apologetic grimace to Akira who only fixed him with his piercing stare.
Pachii.
Pachii.
"Rumours about the boy and his connection to the internet player named Sai began to spread and soon the boy found himself setting up a game of internet go between the legendary Meijin Touya and Sai. The stakes being the Meijin's retirement if he lost. And, as you know, he did."
Akira shifted impatiently. He knew all this, and he knew that despite evidence pointing to the contrary, Hikaru was not stupid. Hikaru knew well enough that he was aware of all of this.
Hikaru fiddled with a stone his eyes vacant.
"And then…" He said softly, so softly Akira had to strain to hear it. He looked up and was taken aback by the sheer amount of pain in Hikarus' eyes. It looked like the boy was trying everything in his power to keep from crying.
"He was gone."
Hikaru took a deep, shaky breath and put his stone down on the bored. Pachii.
Akira did not need to look down at the bored to see how rapidly his playing had deteriorated as Hikaru told his tale. Nor was he surprised to see that Hikarus' moves had a sort of odd look to them, as if he was attempted to recrate a tactic from a game long since played.
Pachii.
Akira waited for Hikaru continue. The boy just stared at the goban.
"And then?" Akira prodded. Hikaru looked up as if recalling the fact he was seated across from him. A small shadow of a smile passed over his face and he laughed, trying to wipe his eyes in a way that was no obvious.
"You know the rest. I stopped attending my matches, stopped playing go at all, foolishly believing that if I lost interest in the game Sai would come back to me."
Akira did not miss the sudden switch from the boy to I and me. "What changed?" Akira asked. "What made you start playing again?"
Hikaru sat in silence for a moment and then slowly opened the fan he held in his hands. "I realized that Sai is a part of me. He is in the go I play and he always will be." He said quietly.
A silence fell between the two as Akira ran through what he'd just been told. Hikaru looked at him understandingly.
"Look, I completely understand if you don't believe me. I wouldn't believe me." He added. He shuffled his feet and placed a stone on the bored. Pachii.
Akira's mind barley registered the fact that Hikaru had just killed off an entire section of his black stones. He's going to win this match by at least four and a half moku. Akira thought numbly.
Sai was a ghost. Akira knew he should be basking in disbelief but instead all he held was an odd feeling off contentment. Almost as if a long lasting thirst had been sated.
Should he believe him? Trust in the one person he had ever felt worthy of not only calling a rival, but a friend.
He bowed his head. "I resign." He murmured, gently caressing a go stone in his hand.
"It…" Akira started, hesitating slightly. "Makes sense."
Hikarus' expression was one of sheer disbelief. Akira stared at him and when Hikarus' face split into an blinding grin.
It was very much like a game of go, his explanation. Akira had to carefully observe his opponents play, watching with sharp eyes before responding. The wrong move could cost him dearly and the right move could bring give him the game.
Looking at the relief in Hikarus' eyes, Akira knew he had made the right choice.