Okay this is my first Fanfic so thank you for all those who are reading it.

It might be a little bad here and there and there probably are errors everywhere, but please bear with it. Thanks.

I hope you enjoy!

'speech' Sai talking or Hikaru talking to Sai in her mind

"Hey Mum, I'm leaving now."

"Make sure you come back in time for dinner."

"Hai."

Eleven year old Shindou Hikaru smiled to herself as she slipped on her sneakers. After months of begging, her mum had finally let her leave the house unaccompanied as long as she came home before dark, not that she was alone, but nobody knew that. She turned to her constant companion who was happily running around in circles like the time he first saw the goban at her Jii-chan's house.

"Hikaru! Come on let's go Hikaru!"

"Geez slow down Sai, not all of us can float up a hill and not get tired." She said irritably as she ran after him. Their destination was the train station that was 10 minutes from their house.

Fujiwara no Sai, her constant companion and resident ghost from the Hein era who has been haunting her since birth. Apparently Sai had been haunting a goban in Jii-chan's attic when Hikaru's pregnant mother came in contact with the goban, his spirit had somehow attached itself to the unborn child.

Sai's story began a thousand years ago. He was a member of the Imperial Court during the Hein era and was one of the two teachers who taught go to the Emperor and other members of the High Court. Unfortunately the other teacher said that there wasn't enough room for the both of them so a match was issued to see who should stay. During the match the opponent cheated, when Sai tried to stop him the cheating mongrel accused Sai of cheating. In the end Sai lost the match and was banned from the capital because everyone though he was a cheater. Not being able to live without go he committed suicide by drowning himself.

However the regretful ghost was unable to be at peace as he wanted to play more go. His soul was preserved within a goban for hundreds of years until a hundred and forty years ago a boy named Torajiro came across it and was able to see Sai just as she was able to. Sai played go through Torajiro and became the best, earning the title of Honibo Shusaku. Unfortunately Torajiro had an early death and Sai was once more sealed into the goban until one day someone would find him again. And that someone happened to be Hikaru.

Sai was quite feminine in appearance; to be truthful he actually appeared to be more feminine than Hikaru, though the fact that Hikaru herself was a natural born cross-dresser might factor into her androgynous appearance.

His tall and slender appearance was a stark contrast to her short scrawny build.

He possessed oceanic blue eyes, incredibly long velvety dark purple hair and delicate skin while she had jade green eyes, long brown hair with blond bangs and scarred skin from her activities as a kid. Sai had been the one who encouraged her to keep her hair long, saying that it would add to her feminine appearance. It was about elbow length and got annoying at times, but she endured.

The blond bangs, though made her look like a young delinquent, held significant meaning to her. When she was young Hikaru had found a photograph of her father who had bleached bangs in his youth. After discovering the photo Hikaru decided to bleach her own bangs. Sai, though regretful that she 'ruined her beautiful brown hair' said that it suited her and her mother couldn't help but smile and remarked that she resembled her father.

Hikaru's dad passed away before she was born. Because of this, her mum had to work hard to support them. When she was young her mother's work often brought her around the world where she lived in many countries and learned a number of languages. Hikaru's mum knew a lot of languages and was rather successful in her line of work and thought that it would also be beneficial for Hikaru to know a few languages as well, that and the fact that they had a rather expansive family that was spread across the globe that didn't speak Japanese.

Her mum worked hard and was often busy, so as a result Hikaru turned out to be independent. She never wanted to cause any troubles from her mum. When she was small and didn't realise that no one could see Sai her mum often worried about her. Hikaru had no friends always played by herself along with her imaginary friend. At the tender age of six Hikaru finally realised that Sai was a ghost and stopped talking about him out loud. After that her mum stopped worrying about her daughter's psychological problems.

During her childhood Sai had played a key role, she looked up to him like an older brother she never had, but as she got older she began to question who the older one truly was. When in go mode, which she dubbed, Sai was serious and slightly scary, but when off go mode he was a troublesome ghost who had a burning curiosity about the modern world. His childish curiosity and burning passion to play go had got her into many annoying situations in the past and would probably bring much danger to her future.

Despite the awkward situations she got into because of Sai she didn't mind anymore, or probably just got used to it. Sai's life goal was now her life goal and she would do anything in her power to help him achieve it. Actually when she was young her childhood dream was to beat Sai, but that dream now came second to achieving the Hand of God.

"Bing—Bong--The train will now be stopping at Tokyo station."

"C'mon Sai that's our stop."

The two got off the train and began roaming the streets of Tokyo city. Hikaru had only been living in Tokyo for about a year now and occasionally got lost down a one way street, though somehow she always managed to make her way home. According to her Jii-chan, who was delighted by the fact that his granddaughter showed an interest in playing go, there was a famed go salon near the train station that had strong players.

"Damn it, I don't see the salon anywhere," she mumbled angrily after wandering around for five minutes.

"Just keep looking Hikaru, I'm sure it's around somewhere."

Hikaru sighed. Maybe she should have brought a map or something. At this moment the wind decided to pick up and blow around the dress she was wearing. She grabbed the hem of her skirt and held it down, how did Sai talk her into dressing up like a girl today anyway?

"Hikaru! Hikaru look over there!" Sai yelled excitably like a child spotting a candy store and squeezing the life out of her as he hugged her, an action that Hikaru had become accustomed to whenever he got overexcited.

Sai dragged Hikaru to the go salon, almost squealing all the way. She smiled to herself at the sight of the ecstatic ghost, this was the first real time that he was really going to play go after all, not counting the random games in her childhood. When she entered the salon she was slightly shocked when she was greeted with the sight of a room full of crusty old men sitting in rows like at the cafeteria at school, playing go. These old men looked intimidating and scary, reminiscent to the cranky old man who she used to live next to in Korea that stole her soccer balls whenever they went over the fence.

"Ah, hello. Welcome."

Startled, Hikaru turned to the greeting and saw the young female receptionist of the place leaning over the counter. Her hair was short, brown and slightly curly at the ends.

"Er… Hi." Damn, she should've mentally prepared herself to make conversation with strangers before she entered the place.

"Write down your name here. Is this your first time?" The lady asked, who's name turned out to be Ishikawa Harumi when Hikaru glanced at the name tag.

"Yeah." she answered hastily and wrote down a fake name. Ever since that incident when she was a child she became a little paranoid about giving out her personal information and has since then been obsessed with giving out fake names.

"Hikaru~! Hurry up Hikaru."

Ignoring the wining ghost she brought out her wallet and tearfully forfeited the 500 yen fee. Hikaru was not normally stingy, actually she was, but if she was going to start regularly visiting go salons for Sai's sake then it was going to drain her allowance. Just as she coughed up the money the door behind her slid open and reveal a tall looming man who was oddly dressed up in traditional clothes. Long ago Hikaru had learned to come and accept strange and eccentric people, being somewhat strange herself, and with Sai being the most eccentric she couldn't really complain about anyone else. However, she couldn't help but stare. He had a face as hard as stone and narrow steely eyes. He looked to be somewhere around his 40's, though she wasn't sure.

There was something about this man, it wasn't the fact that he was dressed up traditionally like Sai or his cold eyes or that he was scary looking or even the fact that Sai had shut up as soon as he entered the place. He had a strange kind of aura that was similar to Sai, and speaking of Sai he had currently gone into go mode.

"Hikaru…this man-- As Honinbo Shusaku, many great players challenged me. This man's intensity is the same as them. Please, let me play him."

"Good afternoon, Touya-sensei." Ishikawa greeted

The man known as Touya-sensei bowed his head in response. "Good afternoon, Ishikawa-san. I hope things are going well."

Hikaru just stared at him while having an internal battle with herself. If she was going to start asking random strangers for games in the future she hoped they weren't all as scary as this guy.

"Ah yes, things are going well sensei." She replied happily. "I was just setting a game for—"

"Hey mister, you here for a game?" Hikaru rudely interrupted.

For the first time since he entered the man seemed to have noticed her and turned to her with a stone piercing glare, which she assumed was his natural look, but nevertheless it made her uncomfortable. Sai glaring at the man and the man glaring at her was quite nerve racking, but she was already got the man's attention, no point stopping now.

"I'm looking for someone to play with me, but it looks like there's no one to play. Since we're both available how 'bout a game?" She asked and flashed a smile.

"Natsume-san, Touya-sensei can't play go with you." Ishikawa snapped at her, obviously disapproving of her lack of manners.

Hikaru furrowed in confusion, what was the lady so mad about? Was this guy important or something? Well, based on the fact that he was similar to Sai in some ways maybe he was important.

"Sorry I was rude, but I don't see why you say that Ishikawa-san. I mean, this is a go salon right? And he came her to play go didn't he?"

Touya made a small sound that might've been the ghost of a laugh and stared at her with a calculating gaze while Ishikawa was momentarily shocked for some odd reason. Hikaru has a feeling that she was missing something here but didn't bother. Maybe she should have gone to a different salon. She had no idea people could be so stiff. After waiting for his response as the man scanned her he finally answered.

"Very well, we'll play in the back room. Ishikawa-san, please make sure that no one bothers us."

Ishikawa gaped as Touya strode passed her and led the young girl to the back room. Hikaru internally cheered for herself as Sai silently followed, why this man agreed to play some random kid she had no idea why, but a result was a result.

"What is your name?"

"Natusme. Natsume Tsubame. What's your name mister?"

"Touya Kouyou." He answered.

Touya exchanged greetings with fellow players as they noticed him walk by and were perplexed as to why the young girl was following him. He led her to a private isolated room with a single table, goban and two chairs. Touya took the bowls and placed them on opposite sides of the table before he sat down.

"How much do you know about go Natsume-san?"

Hikaru fidgeted a bit while in her seat. She was scared, no she was terrified. For the whole time Sai had stayed silent as he waited to play this man, he had to be good if Sai was acting like this, the strange intense aura that surrounded him combined with Sai's go mode was enough to make her want to run away. But she couldn't, she couldn't run away. Sai had waited patiently, or more like wined, for 10 years to play a proper game and when that time finally came they had encountered a man with skills on the same level as Sai. She wasn't going to mess up this chance for Sai, she couldn't. Right now she was representing Sai. This guy wasn't going to take her seriously if she acted like a scared little kid.

She took a deep breathe and braced herself. Her eyes mimicked the determined gaze that Sai's own eyes possessed as she pushed down her fears.

"I know enough to play." She replied stoically in a manner similar to Touya.

"Do you know the komi rule?"

She nodded her head and thanked god that her visit to Jii-chan's place had somewhat updated Sai's outdated go knowledge.

Touya took her nod with a nod of his own. "How much of a handicap would you like?"

"I don't need a handicap."

He raised an eyebrow at this. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"All right then, Please."

"Please."

"Please."

The pressure that Hikaru felt in the room became 10 times worse. Despite her serious exterior she was still nervous, held the stone with untrained fingers while Touya fluidly placed the stones on the board with fluid movements. Hikaru hardly knew how to handle go stones. When she was young and Sai would teach her go they had to play on paper or draw a grid on the ground and use whatever they could find as go stones, she often used flowers in the sandpit as her makeshift goban or just simple rocks.

Hikaru placed the stones where Sai directly them and watched as how Touya would counter the move. The game was intense. Sai had yet to adapt to the modernized go styles and bridge the hundred or so year gap. Black and white battled each other throughout the board, attacking what they were able to until they entered yose.

In the end Sai predicted that he would lose by a few moku and threw in the towel.

"I have lost." He said in a grave tone and bowed his head.

She copied him and bowed her head as well. "I have lost." She couldn't see his face, but she was sure she did not want to see his expression.

"Thank you for the game." He responded.

Hikaru felt her body shiver and go cold, it was the same feeling that she got when she stood at the stop of her roof and almost fell. Sai had lost, this was the first time that Sai had ever lost. Even though she knew his style was outdated she thought that he would win. From the stories that he often told her when she was young and those rare chances she got that allow Sai to play some random person, the belief that Sai was invincible was engraved into her mind. To her Sai was the strongest and ultimate player. But now, right in front of her, there was cold hard proof that Sai had lost his first game in possibly over a thousand years.

Touya was staring at the board and appeared to be in deep thought as well. She gave a sad sigh. Maybe this was a sign, a sign that Sai wasn't invincible, a sign that they needed to work harder to achieve their dream. This was only the beginning of the road after all, who knew that the beginning began with a large speed bump? Before she could start driving she had the read the road manual first, they had to adapt to the current style of go before anything else. The road was long, but she was going to work hard so Sai would never lose again.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the beeping of her digital watch. She glanced down to look at it and her eyes widened in shock when she saw the time. Five pm, it was already five pm? Time certainly flies by when you play go, or maybe she had spent more time before being lost then she thought. She glanced at Sai and saw that he was still in go mode, maybe he wanted to discuss the game with Touya, but she had to leave now or else her mum would take her head.

The screeching of the chair seemed to snap both go players out of their trance and all attention was now on Hikaru.

"Come on Sai, you know what mum said. It's getting late."

"Excuse me um… Touya-san, I have to go home now or else my mum will worry about me." She began squeezing her elbow out of nervous habit. "Thank you for the game, it was really good."

"Wait."

"Hm…?"

He paused for a moment, as if trying to carefully pick his words. "How long have you been playing go?"

"A thousand years."

"Erm… my whole life?" she replied, why was that a question? She remembered Sai saying that when she was a baby he had tried to teach her go, as if a baby could understand anything anyway. There was no way she could say a thousand years.

"You play well for someone so young." He said approvingly.

"Thanks…"

"Your style is old, but you play well beyond your years."

"Haha… really?" she replied nervously.

"Who is your teacher?" he asked, surely someone as skilled as her probably had a pro teaching her.

"I'm self taught."

He raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

It was unthinkable that a child no older then Akira had taught herself to a level that almost rivaled his own. This child was truly interesting, why would someone as young as her pick up go at an early age? Akira too had been playing go for his whole life, but he knew that without his guidance Akira would not be at the level that he is today, and that was no way near his level. It was no secret that go was not popular among the younger generations, so what was the reason behind her un-mentored old yet skillful play? He looked up from his musings to the nervous girl fidgeting in her seat, gone was her earlier confidence and air of experience and there replaced by an anxious child.

"Why is it that you play go Natsume-san?" For a moment he saw her eyes flicker to an empty space by her side before she replied.

Hikaru looked over to Sai when he asked this question. Why was it that they played go? They played go in order to reach the Hand of God, but is that really something a kid should say to an adult? When she was small she once told her Jii-chan that she wanted the Hand of God and he couldn't stop laughing for the whole day, saying something about 'kids and their imaginations'.

"I play for the Hand of God." Sai replied.

"I play for the Hand of God." She repeated.

Surprisingly enough Touya did not burst out laughing like her Jii-chan did, though it might be possible to imagine the stoic man in front of her laughing, he merely raised his eyebrows and the corner of his mouth twitched into something of a smile.

"It seems as though we have something in common."

"Hikaru this man…"

He rose from his seat and motioned her to follow. As he opened the door he came to a halt and turned to her.

"If we are reaching for the same goal then I'm sure one day our paths will cross again."

Sai smiled, "Then I look forward to our rematch."

She too smiled before repeating Sai's words. "Then I look forward to our rematch."