A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! (Take all my love! Come back here.)

-Vanished for two months because of major back surgery. It really hurts when people cut open your back and fiddle with your spine. T.T

Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go.

Warnings: Remember the really bad things? REMEMBER, I WARNED YOU.


POS·SES·SION (puh-zesh-uhn)

-domination or obsession by a feeling, idea, etc.


Hikaru is attempting to avoid him.

The idea is enough to force Sai's hand, and he watches with detached care and a warm smile as Hikaru's friends suddenly become too busy to even answer a phone call. Waya has his hands full with Morishita and his daughter, suddenly caught in a family drama starring both as they argue over topics neither Fujiwara cares to indulge in. (Hikaru wants to but he knows the look in his brother eyes, knows it well and puts the phone back in its cradle with a defeated grimace he tries to hide.) Isumi is mature and responsible but still incredibly naive, too earnest to turn down Ogata's offer of mentorship. Nase and Fukui have their hands full training under an oblivious Ashiwara, the likes of Kaga and Mitani too distant to even reach these days, and soon the only obstacle left is Touya Akira.

The Meijin's son has grown more confident lately and Sai supposes that there are drawbacks to every plan, because with the absence of his friends shadowing his every step, Hikaru is soon followed almost everywhere by Touya. The prodigy thrives in the loneliness that smothers Hikaru like thick wool and Sai can only grit his teeth and stare as the position that he had been hoping to fill is taken.

Hikaru is confused but taken in by his rival, and Sai knows that is because his little brother doesn't understand what the look in Touya's eyes means yet. Instead Sai allows this sick play to continue because with every day that passes, he sets his own stones down onto the board only he and Touya see and knows with the sort of finality that often leaves his opponents shaking that he has won the game before Touya has even realized it.

Thus the only one surprised by the Go Institute's orders for the Meijin's son to attend conference after conference all over the island nation that would have him travelling for months is Touya Akira himself. Sai is too humble to be overtly-pleased but even he has to avoid the knowing look in Ogata's eyes as the ninth-dan palms his pack of cigarettes, standing outside the office door that Touya is currently yelling in.

Hikaru is silent at dinner that night and picks at his food reminiscent of the way he used to when he was small. Sai is fond of the nostalgia that wells up in his gut and does not bother to hide it, instead crawling closer to his little brother on the couch later that night and drawing the reluctant teen into an embrace. The boy has gotten the silly notion into his head that he is too old for such things so Sai is always proving him wrong, pulling and tugging weakly with tears in his eyes until Hikaru gives in. The first time they play this game of stop-don't-please, Hikaru continues to shiver even after Sai holds him for hours and the rising Pro wonders if that means his little brother has finally realized that Sai would always win.

He must have eventually because the next time Sai opens his eyes, Hikaru is still in his arms - only this time he's holding the kitchen knife Sai had used to peel apples for him the night before.


Sai is used to receiving weekly phone calls from his father. They both use a line only privy to the two, only operable during the time Hikaru is nowhere near to overhear. The Fujiwara patriarch is leery over the prospect of having his adopted son hear anything that comes out of Sai's mouth during these conversations, no matter how much Sai assures him Hikaru understands far more than even their distant father.

"I know what you did to the Fujisaki girl," his father states with no preamble. It is the sad rote of every conversation they ever seem to have these days; some accusation or observation meant to chide or bring up guilt. They both know it will fail but Sai's father tries regardless because that last bit of hope he holds on to means his love of family will keep him trying.

Sai holds the phone up to his ear with his shoulder, small smile on his lips as he dices vegetables. He is making Hikaru's favorite - hamburger steak - and hopes he will get to the pudding in time before it becomes too firm. "Good afternoon, Father. I hope you're doing well," Sai responds because it is the polite thing to do and Sai is always unfailingly polite.

"Sai," his father stresses his name, makes it sound like both a curse and the name of a god too frightening to revere. "This has to stop."

Sai doesn't answer for a moment, now finished browning the meat and adding his carefully-sliced vegetables into the pan. "I'm a sixth-dan now," Sai says eventually.

"I- Congratulations," his father exhales shakily, sadly.

The sizzle of food is the only background now and Sai lets another smile play at his lips as he considers his moves. He wanders over to the goban in their living room, looks over the mesh of black-and-white he'd painstakingly set back up after finding them scattered all over the floor the night previous. The reasons why are too numerous and Hikaru will not answer, so Sai only puts them back and makes his next play.

"I'm not a monster," Sai repeats into the quiet. "This is because of love."

"Love isn't like this," his father replies in that same tone of weariness. "This is too cruel to be love. You just refuse to admit this because you're ill, Sai."

"But isn't he mine?" Sai pushes.

The other line clicks, and he's answered with the dial tone.


Touya Akira is vexing in a way Sai does not understand at first. The child stands shorter than his shoulders yet still manages to impose an image of regality that Sai is forced to consider. He watches as his little brother falls after the other boy, can remember their games with the sort of jealousy that is unbecoming and he struggles to hide. Touya has managed the push Hikaru needs as he enters the Go Pro world and it infuriates Sai to realize that he can no longer be the only one that means Go and forever to the boy.

Still, he knows his own power and makes sure the Meijin's son does as well. Sai is already everything to Hikaru; he is the hand he plays in Go, the roof over his head, the food in his stomach, the path he treads as he stumbles into adulthood. Touya knows this as well because he is too young to properly hide the loathing in his eyes every time they meet.

Sai does not bother whispering lies into his brother's ear even though it is well within his power. Hikaru is slowly growing more aware, green eyes sharp as they linger on every move Sai makes. Sai does not let it bother him because Hikaru's attention could never bother him, instead wrapping himself more firmly into the very fiber of his brother's being because it was not enough to be the ghost in the hands he played.

It is only a month into Touya Akira's acquaintance that Hikaru starts to change irrevocably. Sai allows it because he knows it is better to gently clip a bird's wings then tear them off completely, but even he cannot stop himself when he comes home late one night and finds Hikaru's bedroom door closed. His little brother is talking to someone and when he opens the door he finds Hikaru stammering into the phone as his eyes catch Sai.

"Hold on, Touya, I-" Hikaru finally begins.

Sai does not care to wait and instead takes the phone from the younger boy's hands and holds it up to his own ear. "Perhaps Hikaru shall call you at another time, Touya-kun," Sai says politely into the phone before hanging up. Hikaru watches with wide eyes but does not dare to say a word in complaint, especially at the way Sai's hands are clenched at the frame of the door in a grip that would have bruised flesh.

The brothers do not say anything as they stare at each other for several long minutes. Hikaru looks as if he wishes he could stop breathing, green eyes moving from Sai's cold expression to the floor. The silence holds for what feels like forever before Sai suddenly turns and leaves the room, heading towards the kitchen and slamming the phone back down into the cradle without a single word.

He pulls out the toolkit from under the kitchen sink, heading back to Hikaru's room where his door stands ajar. Hikaru only watches silently as Sai undoes the screws and bolts holding the door to its frame, pulling it off and propping it against the wall next to the entrance. Sai will take it out early tomorrow morning to dispose of it. Instead he returns the toolkit to under the sink and washes his hands, drying his fingers with a towel as he goes back to Hikaru. Smiling, he asks his little brother what he wants for dinner.

The next day, Sai meets Touya Akira meandering around in the halls of the Go Institute. They both know Hikaru is having another game that day but Touya refuses to admit to this particular habit of his, although Sai does not address him as he moves past him in the hall.

It does not matter because Touya stops him anyway. He looks Sai straight in the eye with a glare that shows he already knows and he hates Sai for it.

"He will defeat you," Touya swears quietly. "You're just a stepping stone. I am his rival."

Sai shakes off the hold, the picture of grace as replies, "But until then, he's mine."

It takes a moment but Sai finally recognizes the look in Touya's eyes as he turns to leave. It is one that mirrors his own eyes and he realizes with a start that it is over the same person. He resolves to watch his brother's supposed rival closely and knows Akira has vowed the same.


Sai is just a few months shy of his 12th birthday when the doorbell rings to his family home. He feels as if he is being given his presents early when he answers it though, the smile on his face as sincere as ever as he pulls open the door to the welcome sight. A man with a sickly pallor not helped at all by the weather haltingly asks for confirmation of his name, and once he receives it, he steps back and pushes his burden forward.

Four-year-old Shindou Hikaru stands in the doorway of the Fujiwara estate, large green eyes confused as Sai pulls him through and closes the door behind him. The child has no idea where he is or who he is with, and the questions he poses to Sai of his parents are ignored as he's lead through a maze of corridors and stairs. Eventually the memories of the gentle and doting hands of his parents will fade, as will the peppermint smell of his grandfather and the goban in his attic, instead to be replaced by Sai and the universe he creates in a game that will dominate both of their lives.

Early the next morning, waking up to Hikaru curled up next to him in bed, Sai stands and answers the knocking at his bedroom door. As soon as he opens it, his father grabs his arm and pulls him outside. The man looks harried, one glance into his son's room all he needs for confirmation before he grinds his teeth together and drags his only child further down the hall.

"What have you done, Sai!" the Fujiwara patriarch grinds out, voice low but furious. "What have you done!"

Sai doesn't reply because he knows his father will not like his answer, but the joy welling up in his gut puts a smile on his lips that he cannot suppress. Sai's father takes one look at it and spits curses under his breath, face haggard as he realizes the full impact of what his child is capable of.

"You said I couldn't have him because he wasn't mine," Sai counters as his father sinks to the floor. "That he was somebody else's and that nothing could change that. Well, I changed that."

It was easy enough. Shindou Masao worked in his father's company, owned a car, and had to go to a company event that absolutely required the attendance of himself and his wife. One call and the promise of a moderate sum of cash in exchange for a few cut wires secured the rest.

His father doesn't say anything, head cradled in his hands. Sai turns at the sound of footsteps and beams a sunny smile as Hikaru shakily makes his way down the hall.

"Good morning, otouto-chan," Sai calls sweetly.

Hikaru eyes the Fujiwara patriarch in concern, "Mornin', Onii-chan."

Sai instead moves to embrace him, wrapping his thin arms around the child he has claimed and begins to push Hikaru down the hall in search of breakfast. The fantasy is now his to play out and from his father's silence, Sai knows nothing can stop him now.


At seven years old, Sai cuts a picture too dreary to be regarded as anything but surreal. The nurses whisper as they pass him in the halls, at once both wanting to comfort him but hold him at arm's length. It is a look he has long gotten used to as he roams the hospital corridors, familiar in a tragic way he doesn't want to dwell upon. When he'd left the room to his father's mourning silence, Sai took his time idling around the hospital. The staff is either too busy or recognizes the look in his eyes, so he is not approached or halted in his meandering.

Clutched in his small, cold hands are a bundle of flowers; a total of five tulips held together by a purple bow. He doesn't know what to do with them now that he's been shut out of his mother's room. His mother had succeeded on her fifth suicide attempt so Sai had only thought it proper to honor her so, although this was a sentiment no one around him shared. His father had almost bodily thrown the child out, his actions only cooled by the other reasonable adults around them.

He'd been told to wait out in the hall but had wandered off in boredom, now inspecting the hospital from the inside for the better part of half an hour. Sai found himself in the one part of the hospital wing he never expected to end up, hands holding his bouquet of dying flowers closer to himself as nurses bustled by him and other hospital patrons eyed him with dismissive eyes. He cared little for their recognition and instead had his own attention locked onto the numbers hung on every door; bright, colorful bubble-print of the Arabic numerals, colored in pastel colors.

He pushed open the door to '5'without preamble, stepping inside quietly. The woman laid about inside heard the door sweep open regardless and looked up, hazel eyes wide as she took in the child creeping in with mild confusion.

"Oh," she spoke quietly, as to not wake the sleeping newborn baby cradled in her arms. He was bundled in a sky blue blanket that denoted gender, the sweep of silky black bangs over his forehead discernible to Sai as he nears the pair. "Are you lost, dear?"

Sai stares at the baby with wide eyes, fingers trembling and bending the tulips at their stems. Was this why his mother had left him? So that he could have something better? (Anything was better than being forced to endure the presence of a woman who had died long before her body had.) He reached out, gently tracing the child's features; forehead, ears, nose, lips. The woman cradling the infant allowed him to with only a baffled expression.

Sai drew his hand back and met her gaze. He laid the flowers down beside her with a small smile, mentally noting how it set her at ease. "These are for you," he said, fixing the bow before turning his eyes back to the child she held. Flowers were meant for the dead, after all, and to Sai - everyone else in the world was dead but him and this child.

"Oh, thank you," she replied courteously. She held her child closer to herself and wondered why she couldn't shake the chill creeping down her spine. "Um, are you visiting someone in this ward..?"

"No," Sai answered openly. He'd cocked his head as the baby began to stir, gray eyes opening and face pinching into an expression Sai found endearing. "My mom was in the emergency ward."

The woman's expression stiffened before the soft cry of her son broke her out of her horrified trance. "Shh, Hikaru, shh, baby," she cooed.

"Hi-ka-ru," Sai repeated in an exhale of breath that was almost reverent.

Shindou Mitsuko hides her cringe and Hikaru wails.


POSSESSION II - END


A/N: So...we're all savvy now, right?

-Basic gist: Hikaru is driven crazy by Sai, mostly because Sai is an unrepentant psychopath. He became obsessed with Hikaru basically the moment he was born. Sai never went further than just hugging Hikaru, but let's see you try to remain sane when being near-molested by a psychopath almost daily while still being mindfucked with by them.

-Note) the doomed Shindou's: Sai hired people to mess with the brakes on Shindou Papa's car so they'd blow out en route to a work party. (Heihachi was in the doomed Shindou car, fyi. Grandmama Shindou was dead long before.) As Shindou Papa worked under the Fujiwara company, Sai had another employee pick up the orphaned four-year-old and bring him to the Fujiwara house under the false orders of his father. Naturally, Fujiwara had no idea Sai would go that far until he heard about the fatal car "accident" and returned home. He adopted Hikaru because he loves Sai (despite all his crazy) and thought he would get better now that Sai did have Hikaru. (Obviously, Sai got worse.)

-Did Sai kill Akari? I don't know, what do you think?

-Did you guys expect Sai to be the reason for his own demise?

Anyway, the epilogue is up. Kindly leave a review upon completion! :)