Hi, this is my first fan fiction. Uhmm, I'm not much of a writer actually, although I always enjoyed doing writing assignments at school. I discovered this website about a month ago and decided to give it a shot. I'm a big go fan, my strength is about 1 D. Read, review and flame. I know there are tons of things I probably did wrong, but I repeat, this is my first try, so hopefully I will get better. If some people actually read this I'll try to update it steadily. ;)
Disclaimer : Hikaru no Go belongs to someone who is Japanese and I am Canadian.

Shindo was sitting among a pile of clothing, heaps of manga and a goban covered with black and white stones. The mess in his room was typical for a teenage boy and like a typical teenage boy, he felt right at home in it. The 15 year old boy with blond bangs had his eyes fixed on his laptop screen, where the message : Zelda resigns had just appeared.

Hika55 : I'm good aren't I?
Zelda : What? I want my revenge! You got lucky is all!

Laughing a little, the one hiding behind the handle Hika55, logged off. Pfff, immature brat thought Shindo, not realising his own lack of maturity. It was still relatively early, around 8 pm. Normally Shindo would have kept on playing a little while longer, but tomorrow was an important day. His Ji-Chan had decided to send him to a boarding school in Tokyo, feeling that his education might be lacking. He had been happy to see his grandson excited at the prospect of getting better schooling. In reality, the outgoing boy was looking forward to meeting new friends and playing go against other people.

Shindo had spent most of his life living on a small island which had no more than 2000 inhabitants. When he wasn't playing soccer with his schoolmates or hanging around with his neighbor Akari, he'd spend most of his time playing go with an old man named Fujiwara Sai. He did not know much about his past, other than the fact that go had been a big part of it, seeing how obsessed he was with the game. They had met when he was 5 years old, around the time he moved to the island. Sadly, his parents had passed away in a car crash, and he had been living with his grandfather ever since. Ji-chan was pretty nice, but he missed his parents, although his memories of them were quite scant. At the time of their meeting, the little boy seemed sad and lost. Sai had decided to teach him go, trying to take his mind off the tragic accident. What was meant to be a distraction quickly became a passion and Hikaru had been playing ever since.

At first, he wasn't even able to hold the stones properly, but it did not take long before he grasped the game, showing remarkable memory for game positions. When he was around 8 years old, he started beating his Ji-chan, who previously had seemed invincible. (He had won some regional championship after all.) Sai however, was a different matter. After 9 years of playing almost everyday, Shindo still had trouble getting into the yose, even when Sai wasn't trying hard. Lately the games has become closer and he could tell that his mentor was beginning to take him seriously, and it felt good that his teacher and friend considered him a worthy opponent, albeit still clearly inferior.

The reason the teenager had picked up internet go was because Sai had told him that in order to get stronger, he needed to get experience against a multitude of opponents. Talented go players where not one of the small island's natural resources, so he had been happy to find out about netgo and had spent the last two weeks playing almost every night. For the most part, the games were quite ridiculously easy, with a couple of challenging ones spread around, like his last game with Zelda. It had a been a very good game, Zelda had played interesting moves, although he had failed to back them up during the middle game fighting. At least constantly winning on the internet helped him deal with constantly losing to Sai. The teenager was brought out of his reflection by the sound of the doorbell.

''I'll get it Ji-chan'' shouted the teen.

''Allright, no need to scream'' was his grandpa's reply.

On his front deck was his best friend and neighbour Fujisaki Akari, her mahogany hair tied in a ponytail. She had always been taller than him, but a sudden boost in growth had seen Hikaru catch up to her. As soon as he opened the door, she gave him a tight hug. As she broke it up, the boy caught a glimpse of her moist eyes.

''Wahh Akari, what's wrong?'' asked Shindo, clearly at a loss.

''I'm just sad that you're leaving me here alone… I'll have to wait till I go to Tokyo next year to see you again'' was her reply.

''Baka'' said the teen as he pinched her lightly on the forehead, ''We'll see each other during the holidays and it's not like I'll forget about you.''

''Don't call me baka, baka!'' replied the pretty girl, feeling a little bit better. ''And you better not forget me''

The two blushing teens kept on a talking for a little while, before hugging once more and saying their final goodbyes. Feeling a little weird inside, Hikaru pushed thoughts of his neighbor out of his mind and made his way towards the hospital. There was still one person he had to see before leaving his small island behind.

''But Shindooo! I wanna play, you can sleep on the plane ride, please please please.'' Few people would have believed that the noble gentleman sitting on a hospital was the one producing such a childish sounding plea.

''Ok all right, I'll play you one last time.'' Replied the slightly amused teen.

While setting up the goban, Hikaru noticed how exhausted his friend seemed.

'' Are you sure you want to play? You seem tired'' he inquired.

'' Yes I am sure, I can always sleep later, this is the last time we see each other after all.''

'' What do you mean last time? I'll come back and visit you, for sure!''

'' Right, I meant last time for a while'' replied the feminine looking man while smiling faintly.''

Maybe I should tell him... but I'm too weak I don't want to see him cry. I much rather our last time together be spent playing the game we both love.

''All right! Let's nigiri!'' said the young boy, oblivious to his mentor's inner torment.

He ended up taking white while Sai had black. Klak! Klak! Klak! The game progressed at a good rhythm each player letting the stones flow naturally. Spending a lot of time playing with Sai had shown Hikaru how wonderful the game could be, how each game could turn into a piece of art. The beauty of go was that it took two players to play and two masters could elevate each others' game trying to reach the mystical Hand of God. Hikaru highly doubted that one day two players would be good enough to play a perfect game. However, he had seen Sai play, had seen his fingers seemingly glow when playing unfathomable moves, so he was sure that the Hand of God did exist. He knew he wasn't close enough to Sai's level to bring out the best in him and it made him sad that there was no one else around to try. That did not keep him from trying though. Klak! Klak! Klak! They kept at it for another hour.

''Thank you for the game Hikaru'' said Sai, even more tired than before. ''It was truly one of your best games, especially that splitting move in the center. It won't be long before you reach a level I could only dream of.''

''What are you talking about Sai?''

''I think I know why I was given more time now... It was to show you how to play go.''

''You are seriously starting to freak me out, what are you going on about?''

''Hmm... see you Hikaru'' was the reply as the older man drifted off to sleep.

Must have been really tired, spouting nonsense like that. Ah well time to be off.

The sun was shining down on Tokyo and people were bustling about, heading off left and right, important duties awaiting them. In front of a normal looking high school stood a young teenager, looking slightly amazed. Woahhh, Tokyo is huge! Hardly containing his excitement, Hikaru made his way towards the dorms located behind the school, where he would live for the remainder of the year.

Hikaru and his grandfather had selected Haze High because it was one of the few public schools that offered accommodations for students not living in Tokyo. While affordable, it had a good reputation and had one of the top 3 go clubs of the metropolitan area. The last bit had been all the motivation Hikaru needed to accept this selection. His first choice had been Kaio High, but sadly it was too expensive. They had not agreed to give him a scholarship based on his Go skills, stating the lack of tournament results. They hadn't even consented to testing him. He would show them what they were missing out though. He had no idea how strong the representatives for Haze were, but Hikaru was willing to study as hard as it took to take one of three spots and compete in school tournaments.

After registering at the front desk, Hikaru deposited his clothes, laptop, manga and goban in his room before quickly making his way towards the Go club. The lady at the reception had informed him that while the club wasn't open on weekends, sometimes students held informal practice sessions.

Hikaru was relieved to find the door to room 301-B unlocked. The room was of average size, with six long tables, four gobans laying on each of them. The only other occupant, an older looking boy with tidy dark hair and nondescript glasses looked up at the new arrival.

''Hi, may I help you?''

''Yo, I just transferred here and I was looking forward to joining the go club.''

''Of course! You'll have to wait until Monday and speak with Sensei to sign up officially, but do you want to play in the mean time?'' inquired the other student, always happy to have people joining the club.

''Sure''

''So what's your rank?''

''Huh?''

''You don't know what your rank is?''

''No, I only play netgo and against my friend Sai.''

''Hmm, well I'm pretty strong, around 5D amateur. I'm the third board for the club, place down as many stones as you want.''

''What? No way, nigiri!''

The older student, amused at the familiar sight of a newcomer not wanting to take handicap, quickly agreed and ended up playing as white.
Hmm, so he set up a low chinese fuseki, I guess he has some idea of what he is doing. Thought the club veteran. All right, this isn't really recommended, but let's invade right away and see how he deals with it. Klak! Klak! Klak! The sound of stones resonated while the game carried on. Well, seems he is pretty good, that was a nice way of attacking my stone, now his left side is nicely set up, I guess I'll just take the right and see how it goes from there. Klak! Klak! Klak!

On the other side, Hikaru was feeling mixed emotions. He had thought that this game would be challenging, but it was clear that the player in front of him wasn't on his level. The early invasion was clearly a mistake, but it was plausible that the older player had been testing him. However, he had let Hikaru completely destroy his right side and now his corner was under attack. His opponent would have to scramble to make two eyes and most likely end up in gote, which would give the younger of the two sente heading into yose. Looking at the board, he could see plenty of weaknesses to be harassed, whereas his own shapes were solid. Nope, he was leading in points, he had the initiative and he had much more to look forward to than his opponent. Were Shindo, in his opponent's position, he would have resigned already. A part of him was happy that he was obviously strong enough to be Haze's third board, maybe even first. On the other hand, if all his games would be this easy, it would be quite boring. Klak! What! That's not even the right move to live, I have a tesuji and now... I don't see how his corner can live. Klak! Shindo placed his stone in the vital spot. He then went on to answer each of his opponent futile attempts to live.

The bespectacled young man couldn't believe it. His forehead was slightly sweaty, he had fought with all he had yet he had been completely dominated. His opponent even seemed slightly bored... He's strong... even stronger than our first board Kaga. With him we might be able to beat Kaio this year. Damn, this means I'll lose my spot on the team. Guess I'll just have to work hard to overcome the gap between me and Yamagi.

''I resign. Thank you for the game.''

''Thank you for the game'' was the winners reply.

''We haven't even introduced ourselves, what's your name?''

''Shindo Hikaru, you?''

''Tsuitsui Kimihiro''

''All right Kimihiro, ummm nice game, want to review?''

''Sure, although I have a feeling I'll be the only one learning anything'' he replied, while clearing the board.

Quickly recreating the original position, Hikaru started commenting the game.

''So the invasion here was too early, but I have a feeling you were only testing me''

''Yeah, that's right I thought you were a beginner.''

Ignoring the last comment, Shindo continued : ''However after that I had the initiative to attack your right side, here you should have counterattacked, this was way too passive... ''

They kept at it for an hour before bidding each other farewell.

So that's it for the first chapter. Coming up next, a new city, a new school and meeting the rest of the Go Club.

Go terms and approximate translations:
yose = endgame
fuseki = opening
sente = initiative. You can either have sente, giving you the option of where to take the game next, or a move can be sente, meaning the opponent has to answer. (Or risk losing a lot)
gote = a move that does not have to be answered.
tesuji = skillfull play (awesome moves that do things you did not think were possible, like kill Senpai's corner.)