The Scoundrel of Go PG-13
Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson

Summary: AU. Hikaru already knows Go when he first comes across Sai. How will this change things, as we delve into the Hikaru no Go world, Hawk-style? Come on in and find out...

Disclaimer: Hikaru no Go, Hikaru, Sai and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. I could use the money! The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)
I can be found on ICQ as 21771860, MSN Messenger/E-mail as iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like. More stories are available at my nifty lil' site at hawksgalaxy dot com or by clicking on my handle up above.

"speech"
emphasis/shouts/Kindred Domination/post-hypnotic triggers
/thoughts/
/telepathy/
translation
+soundeffect/radio/telephone conversation/TV+

Previously, on 'The Scoundrel of Go'

Yes, the games had been very impressive. Especially the one against Ashiwara, that one had been particularly impressive.

It was odd, in a way, how different the three games had been. The last one... The placement of the stones was vastly different from the other two, almost as if it had been played by an entirely different person, then the first two.

Though it took two to play Go, and it was possible that only Ashiwara had been skilled enough of the three, to allow Hikaru's full skill to reveal itself. Or perhaps he was a beginner to simultaneous games, and had only been able to fully focus on one of the boards, getting sloppy on the other two as most of his focus had been directed at the most dangerous opponent.

That wouldn't last long though, Shindo Hikaru would no doubt hit a second growth spurt after turning professional and wouldn't be as easily distracted in the future.

But Touya Koyo was in no way disappointed over that. It was, as far as he was concerned, good news that a child able to play Akira on equal terms had emerged. He had been somewhat troubled over the fact that Akira seemed so far removed from other players his age.

But now... There was another.

And he would personally make sure, that Akira would be ready to face this Shindo Hikaru on equal terms.

Roll credits

Chapter Three:

"Pro? What are you talking about, Hikaru?" his concerned mother inquired with a nervous expression on her kind face.

"I'm going to try and pass the pro exam this year, mother." Hikaru replied absently, while stuffing his teenaged hungry mouth with some of his mothers delicious Ramen. "I played a Pro today and won, so I figure that I've got a pretty good shot at making it."

/Though I was the one who actually played him./ Sai added, though this of course went unheard by everyone other then Hikaru, who apparently was the only one capable of hearing the ancient ghost, despite the fears he'd harboured in the early beginnings of their unexpected relationship.

But as time went by and nobody else seemed to hear what Sai said, he started to relax and got used to having to constantly wear the poker face of all poker faces, as not to visibly react to whatever Sai said around him.

Though he had occasionally wondered if he was simply going insane, imagining it all. But the little unexpected tidbits of information Sai shared with him, not to forget just how incredibly talented Sai was at Go, had served to alleviate his concerns about loosing his mind and eventually convinced him that he wasn't just imagining the ancient ghost.

"But what about school? This hobby of yours is already taking far too much time away from your studies." his mother argued.

"If I pass the test, I won't have to worry about school any more." Hikaru responded.

"But, what about work?" his mother countered. "Without an education, you'll never get a decent job."

"If you pass the test, you'll have a job, won't you?" his father asked at this, as he recalled something he'd once heard or read somewhere. "The institute of Go or some such hires you?" he asked for confirmation, trying to recall something he'd barely paid attention to before as it wasn't particularly interesting, but which had now when his son had announced his intentions to go for it had become extremely important.

"Yeah." Hikaru agreed.

"But... You're so young?" his mother exclaimed in astonishment.

"It doesn't matter, mother. Father is right. As long as I pass the exam, I'll have a job. My age doesn't matter." Hikaru explained between mouthfuls of Ramen. "And if I can find some students to tutor, it'll be enough money that I can make a living off it."

"Make a living off playing a game?" she exclaimed incredulously. "What sort of job is that?" she demanded to know. "Why haven't I heard about this before?"

"You never asked." Hikaru replied with a faint shrug. "I've got a few printouts somewhere of the details, I'll see if I can find them for you." he offered to calm down his mother, who seemed very nearly about to go hysteric at the recent revelations.

"Kifu, parent and a sponsor, eh?" Hikaru muttered as he left the Go Institute, absently thumbing through an application to the Insei program. His mother had absolutely refused to pay the fee for the pro test, which irked the heck outta Hikaru. He could pay for it himself, but only if he delayed buying a computer until he could restock his funds. Becoming part of the Insei program was cheaper and would earn him a free pass to the Pro exams if he could fight his way to the top of the Insei. That way, he could both get his computer and take the Pro exam.

He could get his hands on some Kifu easily enough, as he could accurately recollect every single game he'd ever played and every single game Sai had ever played through him. If he kept his mouth shut about the Insei program being a way for him to take the Pro exam behind her back, he could probably get his mother to come and perhaps even pay the test fee. But a sponsor? Where the heck would he get his hands on one of those?

Even if gramps was impressed enough by his own accomplishments in the amateur scene, Hikaru doubted that whatever people he had to impress in order to get into the Insei program would be. No, getting a Pro as a sponsor was probably necessary.

And the only professional Hikaru had ever played, was Ashiwara. Well, Sai had been the one who played, but Ashiwara didn't know that.

Speaking of which, perhaps Hikaru could get Ashiwara as a sponsor? He'd certainly seemed impressed enough by the game and might be willing to put in a good word for him.

It was this absent hope, which made Hikaru decide to return to the Go salon where Sai had played the pro, nursing faint hopes that he could persuade Ashiwara to sponsor his entry into the Insei program.

He greeted Ichikawa at the counter and plunked a five-hundred yen coin down in front of her, before moving on into the salon, looking around for Ashiwara. Unfortunately, the older man didn't appear to be there. He sighed and shrugged, he didn't really have anything else planned, so he might just as well stick around for a while and see if Ashiwara might show up.

Echisawa was present though and headed on over to greet his former opponent, requesting a game one-on-one. Hikaru agreed and the two of them soon found themselves facing each other over a goban.

/Sai? Wanna play some Shidou-go/ Hikaru asked his eternal companion, the ghost of Fujiwarano Sai.

/YES/ Sai replied enthusiastically, doing a happy little dance all the while up until Echisawa made his first move, having won the privilege of the first move during nigiri. At that point, Sai calmed down a bit and considered the goban for a few seconds, before pointing on the upper right star with his fan.

Hikaru nodded to himself and placed a stone in the spot Sai indicated, letting his mind relax as he contented himself with merely observing the tutoring game in front of him. It was always a pleasure watching Sai's games, as he always found a way to make them exciting, without completely crushing his opponents. The games were always close, win or loss decided by the tiniest of margins, all in the name of bettering whomever he played, while at the same time giving Hikaru a few pointers.

While Hikaru himself played very solid games at this point, he was still far behind Sai. Ashiwara and Shindo were probably fairly evenly matched, Sai reasoned. Hikaru had a knack for unexpected and powerful moves, but his endgame left a lot to desire, so he usually lost out on whatever lead he had up until that point. Of course, most opponents surrendered before the endgame if they had been loosing badly, so it only rarely reached that point.

Ashiwara was a solid all-round player, good on defence, good on offence and with a good ability to read ahead. He had played well in the beginning, impressed in the middle and played solidly in the endgame. Yes, Sai would like to see Shindo play the older man and was nearly as disappointed as Hikaru that the older man wasn't there.

Which may or not have been fortunate, as Hikaru instead came to meet somebody else.

Somebody who greatly changed his plans for the future and made him miss out on the opportunity to become an Insei.

"Come now, man. Just give up, will you?" a voice intruded on Hikaru's thoughts after Echisawa had won by one and a half moku, thanked Sai through Hikaru for the game and departed, leaving Hikaru sitting alone sipping from a cup of tea that Ichikawa-san had provided for him half-way through the game. "You'll never beat me. Never in a hundred years." the voice continued and Hikaru stood up, moving over to observe the game played by this loud-mouthed braggart who'd disturbed his musings.

"Couldn't you have a little mercy on me, Tatsu? I'm your oldest and best friend, cut me some slack will you?" a kind-looking guy four or perhaps as much as five years older then Hikaru pleaded with his opponent as he looked down at a goban.

"Naw. I don't play all that often these days, so I gotta stay sharp when I do." his opponent claimed, then smirked. "Besides, its fun watching you squirm, Kenji." he finished and chuckled.

"You still haven't changed your mind about the pro exam this year, Tetsu? You're good enough to pass it, y'know?" the one who was apparently called Kenji asked.

"Naw. It's too much of a bother right now. Perhaps after I've finished school. Then I can knock the socks off my competition and teach those old stiff professionals how the game is supposed to be played." Tetsu responded with a wide grin.

"Bold claims." Hikaru spoke up from beside the table, taking a sip from his tea as the two older boys redirected their attention to him. "Sure you've got what it takes to back it up, old man?" Hikaru asked insolently, causing both Tetsu and Kenji to twitch and frown at him.

"You think you can do better then my mentally deficient friend here, kiddo?" Tetsu asked, raising an eyebrow and nodding at Kenji, who nodded his agreement as well at first before he blinked and jumped in his seat.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? You big meanie!" he protested indignantly and pointed an accusatory finger at his friend. "That's the last time I ever play against you!"

"Meh, you said the same thing last time. And the time before that. And before that as well." Tetsu stated dismissively, then refocused his attention on Hikaru. "So, how about it, kiddo? You think you can do better then Kenji here?" he asked and indicated his friend with a negligent gesture with his thumb.

"Dunno." Hikaru admitted, then glanced down at the board and shuddered at the uneven game. Tetsu had completely slaughtered his friend.

Completely.

Not even Hikaru played like that in his tutoring games with Akari.

Well, not unless she hadn't managed to annoy him in some manner, anyways.

But while it was clear that Tetsu was better then his friend, it was impossible to tell how good he was just from looking at the board, as his opponent hadn't put up much of a fight.

"But I'm willing to give it a shot to find out." Hikaru replied, looking up from the goban.

"Give it a rest, Tetsu. You playing against this kid isn't even funny. You're the student Meijin, Honinbo and Juketsu for crying out loud." Kenji protested.

"No, no, no. This brat brought this upon himself." Tetsu said, rubbing his hands together before he started clearing the board.

"Three student titles. That'd make you Kadowaki Tatsuhiko then." Hikaru said and seated himself opposite of Kadowaki after Kenji vacated his seat. "I'm Shindo Hikaru." he introduced himself as he reached out and helped out to clear the board, preparing for their games.

"Oh, you've heard of me then?" Kadowaki inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Trembling in your pants yet, kiddo? Ready to give up already, are we?" he asked.

"Not exactly." Hikaru replied with a smile. "I am looking forward to this game a whole lot more then I did before, however." he continued and grabbed a couple of stones for nigiri as Kadowaki did the same.

"It's your funeral, kid." Kadowaki replied with a wry smile.

"That has yet to be decided, hasn't it?" Hikaru continued and looked down at the stones they'd both put down on the board. "I'm black." Hikaru announced and the two exchanged stones, before the game began.

"Can I have a cup of tea, please?" Kenji requested and the attendant behind the desk put her magazine down in order to provide a cup of tea for the seemingly shell-shocked young man in front of her. She glanced over at the table he'd come from and smiled faintly as she spotted that his former opponent was now facing the strange prodigy, Shindo-kun.

"Rough game?" Ichikawa asked with a gentle smile as she handed the young man the tea he'd requested.

"You have no idea." he said and shook his head, before taking large gulps of the tea in order to calm down his frayed nerves. "That kid... He... It's... I've never seen anyone play Tatsuhiko evenly before." he managed to get out after taking a deep breath of air.

"Shindo-kun is... Unique." Ichikawa agreed and shook her own head.

"At first I thought he was just some cocky kid, but..." Kenji started to say, then trailed off, not quite knowing how to finish his sentence. "I didn't think there was anyone at that age other then Touya Akira who could possibly be that good. That kid is unnatural. I'm not very good, but I am good enough to be able to tell that he's freakishly strong. Is he a Pro or Insei?" he asked.

"No." Ichikawa replied. After he'd defeated Ashiwara, she'd looked up all the young pros and hadn't found Shindo's name amongst them. He wasn't an Insei either and he'd never taken the pro exam. He was quite the enigma, really. He also reminded her a whole lot about Akira. Young, polite, well-mannered and astonishingly good at Go. He had playfulness and a certain arrogance that Akira lacked, but the two of them really were rather similar to each other.

She shook her head to clear her mind, she really shouldn't be spending so much time thinking about young boys several years her juniors. She really needed to get over this silly crush on Akira, at the very least. If the Meijin found out, she didn't know how she'd ever be able to live with herself or face her boss again. She'd have to quit this job and though she wouldn't have minded something more exciting to do at times, she was actually rather fond of this job. It was quiet, rarely stressful and she quite enjoyed talking with the customers who were all very pleasant and extremely nice to her.

"Well, he should be." Kenji announced and asked for a refill, which Harumi swiftly provided him with.

"He told the Meijin that he might take it next time." Ichikawa revealed in a conspiratoric whisper as she handed him the tea.

"The Meijin!" Kenji spluttered. "He's the Meijin's pupil?"

"No. They've only met once, as far as I know. Touya Meijin arrived just in time to watch Shindo-kun finish a simultaneous game against Ashiwara-sensei and two others and the two of them talked for a bit before Shindo had to leave." Ichikawa revealed.

"I just can't believe it. Tatsuhiko won the student Meijin, student Honinbo and student Juketsu. Sure he doesn't play all that often now, but he's still the best I've ever seen and now he's being pressured hard by a kid." Kenji said and shook his head, sipping from his new cup of tea at a more moderate pace as he looked over at the two players. As he did, his face assumed a calmer expression and he started to smile a little bit. "But, perhaps this will be good for him. I've never seen Tatsuhiko this serious before. He's always lacked ambition, but now... Now I think he may just have found it at long last." he mused as he looked over at his old friend.

"Shindo-kun does that to people." Ichikawa agreed with a tender expression. Akira had been the same, just sort of drifting through life in an absent manner. Sure, he studied Go and he was extremely good at it. But he'd gotten much more passionate about it and he hadn't even played Shindo, just seen the game he'd played against Ashiwara. But that had been enough to get him really passionate about the game.

Ashiwara was the same. The happy-go-lucky young man who never seemed to have a care in the world had launched himself back into the world of Go with a drive he'd never had before. He and Akira had grown even closer since the game against Shindo and they could often be found discussing, playing games or recreating them from Kifu. They'd also taken to studying Shusaku for some odd reason, both of them could often be seen lugging about books about the long-since dead player.

She'd asked Ashiwara about it and all she'd gotten out of him, was that Shindo-kun played like Shusaku and that he wouldn't be caught off his guard by it again.

Even the Meijin had been affected, spending more time with Akira then before and when his busy schedule didn't permit him to do so, he arranged for other professionals to tutor his son in his stead.

Akira seemed much more alive these days and for that, Harumi would always be grateful to Shindo Hikaru. She'd always been concerned over the son of her employer. She'd seen him like a little brother and still tried to do so, even if her thoughts and emotions occasionally betrayed her. She shook her head again to clear her mind. Even now, just thinking about Akira made improper thoughts pop up in her mind.

She had considered getting help for this, but figured that for as long as it was just thoughts, it wasn't a problem.

Well, unless the dream with the jar of honey, the pink feather duster and the strap-on returned. If that returned, she'd have to seek professional help.

Well, either that or get laid.

By someone a whole lot older then Touya Akira.

"I told you that I'd win, Old Man." Shindo's voice boisterously announced, causing the two at the counter to look up as the two players approached.

"Stop calling me that, kid! I'm no old geezer!" Tatsuhiko protested as the two of them ambled up to the counter.

"You lost then?" Kenji asked which got him a dirty look and a sour expression from his friend.

"Yeah. Just imagine it, me loosing to a brat like this." he snorted and moved the dirty look from Kenji to Shindo.

"You're out of practise, Old Man. You haven't played much lately, have you?" Shindo asked.

"By the way, Shindo-kun. Have you decided yet about the pro exam?" Harumi asked, eager to find out something that might earn her a few points with Akira.

"Yeah. That was why I came here today, actually. I was hoping to talk with Ashiwara-sensei and ask if he'd be my sponsor into the Insei program."

"You want to be an Insei?" Kadowaki interrupted and laughed. "Whatever for? You'd just be wasting your time there."

"My parents won't pay for the pro exam, but if I become an Insei, that will be taken care of." Shindo admitted after a few moments of silence.

"That's all?" Kadowaki asked and looked thoughtful for a few moments, before he smiled. "Tell you what, kiddo. If you'll play me at least once a week to get me back to speed and help me brush off my obviously rusty skills for this years exam, I'll pay for yours as well."

"You're going to take the exam, Tatsuhiko?" Kenji asked with a confused expression. "I though you said that you wouldn't be taking it for a couple of years yet?"

"I wasn't, Kenji. But I can't let this insolent brat get too far ahead of me, now can I?" he asked with a grin. "Once I've recovered my old skills, you're going down, kid!" he announced.

"Once a week, huh? Well then, Old Man. You've got yourself a deal." Shindo replied and glared daggers at Kadowaki. "But you'll be the one going down!" he added with a grin of his own.

"Grrrr!" Kadowaki snarled.

"Grrrr!" Shindo snarled right back.

/Oh my.../ Sai sighed and shook his ghostly head.

"Now, now, you two..." Harumi started, gesturing at them to keep it down as not to disturb the other customers.

"Oh boy, now there's two of them." Kenji sighed and shook his head.

The End! ( For now... )