In the Western point of view, the four elements that the ancients believed made up the world is fire, earth, water and air. This is the Hellenic point of view, which originated in Greece somewhere around...c. 2800 BCE? Either way, sometime in ancient Greece.

The Eastern belief is that the world consists of five elements, fire, water, earth, wood, metal. Air wasn't much of an issue to them.

Anyway, the Western view was more well-known and easier to interpret than the Eastern one [can you imagine trying to find five lesser known Go players who fit the requirements?] so in this case I used it.

Okay, so, in this chapter we'll attempt to tell the Touya father and son that Sai is actually a ghost and provide conclusive proof that the supernatural exists and somehow without them accusing Sai and Hikaru of going nuts, so to speak.

DYquem has been so supportive! I almost love the guy. People seem to love the mix of supernatural and Go, I don't know why, but it's frankly...entertaining.

I don't own HikaGo. This is non-commercial, non-profit fiction.


The Truth Behind the Fox

No matter how far they were, how long time passes, or how great the distance separating them, if they are truly fated rivals, they will meet again someday.

For a moment, Touya Koyo almost wondered if this wraith-like young individual was truly the Ghost of Net Go. This was followed by an almost immediate self-chastisement that ability in Go was not necessarily related to how long one has lived, nor was experience limited to age. Still... was this individual truly Sai, that was the important question.

Touya senior's eyes flickered, studying the player that was such like the wind; unable to be seen, to be caught, and somehow always ahead no matter how fast one tried to catch up. True, on a closer look, the eyes were those of determined warriors setting out on to battle, of lone warriors facing down another to protect their pride, so incongruously ancient on such youthful features. The hand carrying the fan also bore the marks of having handled stones for several years, the calluses those of an experienced player not apparent to those who only took a cursory look.

'It is an honour to face you again, Touya sensei,' Sai murmured to him, and it was as if the two rivals were the only ones there.

'It is the first time we have actually met face to face,' the older Touya replied gravely. 'The only game we have ever played was carried out through... an intermediary. Have a seat.'

'Indeed. Ah, thank you,' Sai gushed as he accepted a cup of what looked to be steaming hot tea. Beside him, Hikaru took another seat, where he was entertained with a mug of what strangely looked to be a sort of hot chocolate. Did they serve that to him because it was appreciated or because Shindo looked so much like a frozen child, the old man didn't know, but it apparently had the intended effect; Shindo gulped it greedily down, leaving the two rivals in silence.

'I lost in that game,' the older Touya stated.

'Yes, you did. It apparently did wonders for you,' Sai commented. 'You had had not a single heart attack since two years ago.' The bite, although sarcastic, had a point.

'That one loss has allowed me to re-evaluate my self,' Touya Koyo replied unashamedly. 'It was exceedingly painful, but with only positive net results. On hindsight, perhaps I should have retired earlier.'

'Is that so? You still have quite a long road ahead of you,' the young man commented with the aura of a master, not of someone in his twenties.

'Yes. I have advanced since that match two years ago,' Touya Koyo replied. 'I would like to match against you again, in a true match on the goban. Before that, I want to know something.'

'Oh?' The young man's lips curled into a small smile as the fingers idly played with one of the long locks hanging over his shoulder. 'What insight do you wish to receive?'

'I want to know your name,' he stated. The name of my rival.

'My name is Sai,' the young man replied. 'Fujiwara Sai.'

Fujiwara no Sai.

One of those closest to the Hand of God.

My rival.

'Thank you for the cup... Hayashi Shuei?' Hikaru could hear his teacher gasp. 'Is that you?'

'Do I know you?' Shuei asked blankly, but Sai was no longer listening, his gaze travelling around.

'Shuho, you're here too!' Sai exclaimed in surprise. The samurai looked at him in an expression that indicated calm surprise at having been recognised by a stranger. 'Is Shuwa sensei here? Is Honinbo Shuwa here too?'

Honinbo? The two Touyas thought. Their surname is Honinbo? It would have been insulting if they hadn't seen the three's Go skills. Truly, they were deserving of the name.

'Ah, perhaps it is time for a introduction,' a familiar drawl came to Koyo's ears. He recognised that voice as the one that had directed him here. 'Shuei, Shuho, Shuwa, this is Fujiwara Sai. He's significantly...more experienced in your ... current situation and he was...around your student, Shuusaku, during...that time.'

Shuusaku? 'You had a student by the name of Honinbo Shuusaku?' Akira managed to speak out in disbelief.

'Shindo Kun never told you about him and Sai?' Seimei's eyes widened. 'He never told you about his teacher? Ah, I see, Shindo Kun must have thought himself schizophrenic or insane.' Seimei tapped his fan against his other palm as if that solved everything. 'Perhaps we should start with Shindo Kun. Shindo Kun, please tell them everything.'

Hikaru was just about to protest when said protest died under the intense scrutiny of the father and son. Both wanted to know and weren't about to let him off until they knew.

Curiosity is a powerful thing. It had spurred man on to great things, in the quest to find out more and more about why things happen. It is on this quest of knowledge that civilisation, science and the arts have sprung forth. What we have today was inherited from previous civilisations, which had come about as a by-product of fulfilling the human curiosity. It is a wonderful thing.

It kept Touya Akira from strangling his rival for not telling them earlier.

'This is going to sound insane...' Hikaru grumbled as he tried to start. 'Erm...about five years ago, I was in the attic of my grandfather's house with a childhood friend, looking for things to fence off in order to supplement my cut-off allowance. I found an old goban there. That goban was covered in what looked like bloodstains. I asked my friend if she could see the stains, but she couldn't see them; it was as if only I could. Then, I heard a voice, calling out to me...'

Such was the power of Hikaru's tale that even the speaker himself was drawn into the spell of his past:

"Should you really do that?" a high feminine voice questioned.

"It's fine, my allowance got cut off because I scored an 8% on that last test," he heard himself reply.

"Man, this stain isn't coming off...' he said, rubbing it.

"What stain? It's clean."

"Huh! It's dirty!"

"Where?"

"Here," he said, pointing.

"Where...?"

"I said, here! Here, these look like spots of blood."

That was when Sai came...

Can you see it?

"That's what I've been saying..."

Can you hear my voice?

"Huh?"

You can hear my voice, can't you?

"I don't see it..." the girl was saying, but already he wasn't listening.

"Akari, someone is here. Who is it?" he had asked, plucking up his courage. "Grandpa, come out!"

"Stop it! Stop saying weird things. I'm leaving, Hikaru."

You can.

You can.

All-powerful Kami Sama, I thank you...

And Sai had appeared, covered in a white shroud...

I will now return...

Return...to the living world...

'And then that was how I met Sai for the first time,' Hikaru said, ploughing on with his story. No one spoke, they were all waiting for him to continue.

'Sai was ghost from the Heian era,' Hikaru spoke, wondering if this was proof that he was insane. 'He taught Go to the Emperor during the time he was...alive.' Despite proof to the contrary that Sai is alive and that there was no proof that Sai had died, Hikaru continued on anyway. 'At that time, there was another tutor to the emperor. One day, the other tutor told the emperor that there was no need for two tutors, so the emperor decided that there would be a match between the two, where the victor would remain, and the loser would go.

During the match, Sai saw his opponent take one of the other coloured stones from the opposite goke and drop that stone among the captured stones.' Hikaru could just hear Akira gasp at such cheating. 'When Sai was about to raise the question, the opponent accused him of cheating.' Hikaru, although not knowing much then, could now properly scorn the other man for cheating and accusing Sai.

'The emperor declared the match continue anyway. Sai, troubled by this, could not concentrate and lost the game. Having lost the game, and being branded a cheater, he was driven out of the city. Unable to play the game he loved, branded a cheat and a liar, he drowned himself in the river two days later.'

The older man looked at Sai, who seemed to be able to take the regaling of his past calmly, although the way the man gripped the cup spoke his true emotional state.

'The point is, I was then stuck with a Go- obsessed ghost who just couldn't leave me alone. I had to challenge my grandpa, but then my completely not knowing how to play Go made it such that I had to take Go classes, which I got thrown out of for disrupting the peace.'

Akira didn't bother to hide a very quiet mental snicker.

'Then after being thrown out, I came to a Go salon, where I played who I initially thought was someone of my ability, seeing as he was about my age,' Hikaru continued, grinning at Akira. 'Sai dictated the coordinates to me, I placed the stones. In about three hours, I think it was over, right, Touya?'

Akira had simply froze at that declaration. So the first game he thought Shindo had played was actually against Sai. Sai had played Shidougo against him, and had crushed him. The older Touya's face was unreadable.

In this way, Hikaru regaled whatever facts he could remember to give the story enough flesh and to cover some of the facts, taking them through a journey of time, through two years of his first in the tournament, losing against Touya, being an insei, to the pro exam, through to the fateful game... Sai versus Touya Koyo.

And, finally, Sai's disappearance.

'Erm, Shindo, you do realise that your teacher, Sai is right here, right?' Akira asked his rival in the voice that all but yelled out loud calm down while I get the straitjacket. 'So how do you explain Sai's disappearance and the fact that he's right here? Your story, though theoretically possible, and would certainly explain your fluctuating Go skill, is simply impossible...' Akira's voice trailed off as he noticed Sai reaching out a hand to him. His eyes widened further as that very hand touched his nose, then, somehow, seemingly, pass through it...

Touya Koyo had frozen in the way only statues should be able to do as he saw Sai's hand pass through his son's face. It was as if...Sai was a ghost.

What would that mean? He wondered privately. That the rival I was chasing is a ghost? That the story Shindo had just told us was true? Or...that only a thousand-year old Go master could match me?

The hand came out of the face. 'I'm sorry about that,' Sai apologised, 'but there was no other way to prove the story.'

Whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. And much as it is improbable, it is still the truth.

'You're...a ghost,' Touya was still staring in disbelief, slowly caressing his face where Sai's hand had passed through it. 'You're really a thousand years old. You taught Shindo Go.'

'Yes.'

'So...how did you return? Why did you return?' Akira struggled to comprehend the impossible situation.

'I was allowed to come back,' was Sai's reply. 'To come back for him.'

And those amethyst eyes met the hard, cold flint, as Sai continued to speak. 'To return for the Divine Move. For my rival.'

And as those eyes met, silently, subconsciously, they acknowledged each other. Even across the boundaries of death, they were still connected by a love for the game they played. Still connected for the desire to play the perfect game... for the Hand of God.

'Okay, let's assume that Shindo is correct...for once,' Akira caught himself, 'and say that you're really a Go master that committed suicide a thousand years ago, and then haunted Shindo for about two years, them disappeared, only to come back with a body,' he continued, ignoring Hikaru's protest. 'So, may I ask you how does Shuusaku fit into all this?'

'Shuusaku?' the three owners of the Go salon, the older Touya and Sai echoed.

'Your playing style,' Akira confirmed. 'you playing style is so much like Shuusaku's.' So much that people call you the Shuusaku reincarnated, he added.

It was Hikaru who answered that. 'Sai haunted another person before me during the Edo era. That person's name was Kuwabara Torajiro. Torajiro, having seen Sai's skill, let him play all the games. Later, Torajiro changed his name to Shuusaku and entered the Honinbo house.'

Akira gawked at him. 'You're saying,' he managed beyond his shock, 'that Sai is actually...Honinbo Shuusaku? The Edo era's greatest player? Supposedly the greatest in the history of Go?' And not just on the Net?

'You really shouldn't say it like that,' Seimei commented. 'There are other great players around during the Edo era too, you know.'

Akira ignored him, while the three owners of Shades of Grey looked at Sai. 'So, you're Shuusaku's ghost, huh?' Shuho asked. 'What happened to him?'

'He's in a good place,' Seimei replied. 'Almost anywhere is better than where you are, right?'

'And these players are...?' Akira shot a dirty look at Hikaru, who shrugged.

'Shuei is actually Honinbo Shuei, former head of the now defunct Hayashi house, seventeenth and nineteenth Honinbo previously, also formerly Meijin during the Edo era,' Seimei recited. 'Shuho is Honinbo Shuho, eighteenth Honinbo, second strongest disciple of the then Honinbo after Shuusaku. This,' he motioned to the old man, 'is Honinbo Shuwa, the fourteenth Honinbo.'

Somehow, Akira found this slightly easier to accept, the fact that he'd been thrashed by some of the strongest players during the Edo era than the fact that he'd been thrashed by ghosts. 'But..aren't you dead?' he managed to say past his disbelief.

He was answered when Shuei stepped out to face him, standing in the lighter part of the salon. Akira frowned as he looked at Shuei, who only looked down to the ground. As Akira's gaze followed, he noted one thing, that while the shadows on the ground played out in varying degrees of grey and black, there was no distinct black shape where Shuei was defined.

Shuei had no shadow.

'I think that answers his questions,' both the former Meijin stated. No wonder my son had lost; unexpectedly facing some of the Edo era's strongest, who would have a chance? The older Touya thought.

But...I've won against Honinbo Shuwa, he realised. And I'm chasing Honinbo Shuusaku. I'm chasing after the invincible Shuusaku.

On any other day, he would have dismissed the thought as a regular daydream that should belong to a child.

Now, he wondered, exactly how would he match against Shuusaku. That thought brought a smile to his face. It was not everyday that you realise your rival as the power behind one of Japanese Go's legends, and he wanted to savour the moment.

'It is time for you to go, you know,' Seimei gently told the three.

'Is that so? Well, then let him try,' Shuwa laughed, a sound that made even the older Touya start. 'Tell him how.'

'Each ghost had something that holds them down to this world,' Seimei lectured the other man from the Heian era. 'Exorcism can be tricky because as long as they are tied to this world by that link, the most we can do is to put them to sleep for a while. In your case, your near-obsession for Go linked you to the goban for a long time. But that is a bit irrelevant now. In this case, you must play Shuwa and Shuho, the first to prove whether the student is really better than the teacher, the second to prove who is the stronger, Shuusaku or Shuho. As for Shuei...he needs to learn confidence in his own game.'

'Confidence?' the younger pros asked.

'Shuei is a strong player, such that many believe him to be talent surpassing even Shuusaku,' Seimei spoke. 'The only flaw is that he has believed that he showed no promise at Go. It was partly because of this that he was adopted by the Hayashi house. However, this was really a case of the underdog coming out on top, for Shuei managed to claw his way to become one of the few Meijin of the Edo era. He needs to learn confidence, and perhaps...one of you would know how to teach him that.'

'Do you start now?' Sai asked doubtfully. 'It's quite late already...'

Startled, Akira realised that it was already seven, the salon's dimness only further proof of the sun having set. 'O Tou San,' he asked.

Touya senior nodded. 'I know. Akira, tell your mother I will not be home early. I have met an old friend I want to catch up on.' Akira nodded, moving out of the place, and apparently making the effort to place as much a distance between the place and him in the shortest time possible. Hikaru and Shuei disappeared after him.

'I believe you,' the older man told Sai. 'I believe your story. But...may I ask you a question?'

'Yes?'

'Was it necessary to do that to my son?'

'It was the fastest way to get proof,' Sai defended himself.

'I...see.' Touya frowned. 'Can you hold the stones?'

'Yes...?'

'And can you play with your full strength?'

'Certainly, why?' Sai was suspicious.

'In that case, I would not care about anything else,' Touya senior replied. 'About your friend, Seimei...'

'He is Abe no Seimei, just like I am Sai of the Fujiwara.' Sai confirmed.

Behind him, Seimei snickered loudly, meriting a punch on the head from Chiaki.

'I actually won that game,' Touya senior breathed, accepting a third cup of green tea over the empty bento box that had contained his dinner from Shuwa. 'I never expected to challenge Honinbo Shuwa and win. Or chase after Honinbo Shuusaku either.' For once in a very long time, his player's instinct was satisfied that he had challenged such strong players.

'Well, Fujiwara,' Shuwa chuckled, 'don't play against us just yet. I want to see Shuei and the others pass on before us first.'

'There are more ghosts?' Koyo asked, somewhat surprised.

'Yes, the Go world is thoroughly populated by the ghosts of the past,' Shuwa said. 'Some of us, like me, co-own Go salons. Some of us own antique shops, or probably eateries, or in one case, a book store. In my case, I spend six months in here, six months in Kyoto, because I need to go on a pilgrimage.'

'How many more?' Koyo could hear himself say. He was already wondering why had such skilled players escaped the scrutiny of time. The he remembered that they were ghosts.

Shuwa laughed at that. 'You want to challenge them? Touya San, I appreciate your love for Go, but these ghosts aren't that easy to find, or that easy to defeat. They have more years of experience than you've lived. Are you sure?'

'Yes,' Sai replied on his behalf. 'I too want to play against stronger opponents. In order to face the strength of the future, we must first defeat the past.'

'Those who remain static will fade, is it?' Shuwa quietly murmured. 'I don't know where they are, but Seimei here knows the location of all the ghosts, right?'

'In...hic...deed,' Seimei hiccuped, slightly drunk from the sake. 'It is quite easy, not many meet the requirements to persuade the gods to allow them to return. Even less have mortals who know them.' he winked at the older Touya.

'Where is Shuei?' Touya wondered as they continued to trade pleasant conversation.

'I think he followed your son out,' Seimei hiccuped, downing another cup after. 'I did tell Shuei that by playing him he could get confidence.'

Silence fell at that declaration, at which Chiaki immediately whacked Seimei. 'You idiot!' he hissed at the self-proclaimed onmyoji.

'Akira is being followed by a ghost?' Koyo asked his rival.

'A harmless one, but it will be shocking for him...'Sai trailed off.

'Shocks are part of growing up,' Koyo replied, taking a deep drink of tea. Despite his health, he sometimes wished for some alcohol, but he loathed being drunk.

In the next chapter we see have an interlude to the story where the two young rivals, Akira and Hikaru, have to exorcise a ghost that's haunting Touya...the situation has changed...I'm evil, aren't I?

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