Disclaimer: Hikaru No Go and its characters belong to Hotta Yumi-sensei and Obata Takeshi-sensei. NOT me!!! ^^

Author's notes: Thank you the two of you who reviewed! You have no idea how gratified I am to receive those treasured reviews! I am not dramatising this, honest! Thank you again for being so nice! (I didn't expect any reviews at all) By the way, I have no idea how this fic turned out so strange. I tried my best!  Doesn't matter if the reviews aren't good, please review! Thank you!

And yes, the action will come later ^^ I swear upon my love for Hikago. :)

~Chapter 1~

The soft light streamed in through the curtains, the wavering patches of gold dancing on the adjacent wall. Cream curtains billowed in the breeze, rippling gently as the wind raced in.

Mrs Shindou set down the feather duster with which she had been cleaning the furniture with, pausing to adjust her apron before making her way to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

She hummed a little tune while walking, her slippered feel padding softly over the floor. It was a rather catchy tune, she thought, a nice jingle for some brand of detergent. Which reminded her, here she made a mental note, to make sure that she purchased some detergent the next time she dropped by the supermarket.

And of course, she had to collect the suits from the lauder mat's next door. With the kind of suits Hikaru wore, Mrs Shindou was sure that he'd easily be mistaken for an adult. Her husband didn't even start wearing anything remotely presentable till he'd found a job.

Then again, this was Hikaru's job, Mrs Shindou reminded herself. She still could not tear herself away from the fact that Hikaru had grown up, found a job, and was earning his own money. She simply couldn't except that the spoiled, foolish boy she had adored was gone, only to be replaced by this serious, mature adult.

It was almost like watching an old movie where everything had been fast forwarded. The transformation had been so sudden, so complete; it was as though he'd never been the genki, loud teenager. It was impossible in its rapidity.

Well, boys had a growth spurt, didn't they, so it had to be one of those things that puberty brought on, Mrs Shindou concluded. But it really had been like watching a film, she thought. It was the way she was so detached from everything: she didn't even know what was happening in his daily life. Who he met, what he did, where he went… Heck, she didn't even know what he did for a living.

She was an outsider. She was so distanced that she felt she didn't even have the right to pry into his affairs anymore. Well, in the beginning, she had tried to enquire, to show a "healthy interest"(as the child rearing book had termed it) in his life et cetera… But in the end she had just concluded that nothing really worked.

Sure, he'd tried to explain. But the numerous titles and terminology had her muddled after just two minutes. By the time Hikaru had launched into an explanation for the fifth time, she began to sympathise for her son's inability to retain much of his schoolwork.

She had to accept it: Her son was grown up, a responsible adult now, and what he did was none of her business.

Mrs Shindou wondered if her thoughts were normal for a concerned mother of a teenager. After all, didn't those child rearing books strongly caution against being over-protective? That's right, she had to learn when to let go.

Still, if caring about her son's welfare meant being over-protective, then she had to do it. She had been so frightened the night she realised that Hikaru hadn't gone to sleep even at 4 in the morning because he'd been too caught up reviewing past games. And there was that day she came back only to find him slumped in front of the go-ban in his room, kifu in his hand and a go stone still between his fingers.

It was during those times that Mrs Shindou felt that she was offered an insight into her son's life. A life completely devoted to Go. It was then that she slowly began to realise that Go wasn't just a game, pastime, or livelihood. It was Hikaru's body and soul.

That fact had shocked her the first time she admitted it to herself. She'd know it all the while—Hikaru had blatantly told her time and again—yet she had conveniently stored it at the back of her mind, hoping that it would be buried there and never resurface again. She'd tried subconsciously to ignore the fact because she couldn't accept it.

Which mother aspired for her child to live merely for a game? Well alright, it was an intellectual game and a highly respected one at that, she conceded, but still it was downright peculiar.

Didn't normal high school kids study, take the exams, and move on to collage? Hikaru had been a normal teenager, so why didn't he just take the normal path like everyone else and save everyone so much worry? Mrs Shindou sighed.

It wasn't as if he had an inadequate intellect. She'd given him a good education, and she rationalised that anyone who could spend up to six hours concentrating on and winning an impossibly complicated game couldn't be too deficient in the mental area.

So it wasn't her fault then, Mrs Shindou thought, relieved. But honestly, Hikaru's behaviour was just odd. A boy who slept on a bed (not a futon), who never had put on a hakama, flunked all his Japanese History and Literature tests, should suddenly embrace an ancient Japanese game. And devote energy to it with a fervor that was astounding.

Her son was an enigma that she could never solve.

Perhaps the thing that really changed Hikaru was the time when he'd forfeited all his games and practically abandoned Go. It was the haunted quality that came into his eyes that had really frightened her… and the way his face reflected a depth of sadness that even she couldn't comprehend. That had really been the turning point.

Though what really happened, Mrs Shindou felt she would never know. It was one of those things that no matter how she probed and asked, she'd never get a satisfactory answer to. It was one of the things that Hikaru deserved to keep to himself. Time would heal all wounds.

But at that time, she'd been worried enough to call up the school and speak to his teacher. There was nothing that they could do, she had been told. Hikaru had refused to play, and all the better, could then concentrate on his studies and scrape up a decent grade.

There wasn't much she could do either. The blow that Hikaru had sustained was obviously a violent one, and as his mother, she'd grown too distanced to be able to help him. Instead, she settled for offering him her silent support during that period.

She didn't even scold him for being irresponsible. She didn't even mention the subject. She'd just continued daily life like normal, updating him with how Mrs Makato's cat was doing, how Mr Subara had dumped his longtime girlfriend … She knew he wasn't really listening to her then. But the fact that it brought some semblance of normality into Hikaru's life meant something to her.

Then he'd bounced back. Just regained his stride with the same rapidity with which he decided to forfeit the games. Mrs Shindou let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding. She know that in whatever Hikaru chose to do, she'd support him all the way through, because that was the way to do it. The right way to be a mother.

Mrs Shindou knew she'd surrendered her son to Go without a fight. She knew that from the moment he entered the Go world, he'd been completely sucked into its swirling vortex and pulled along in the raging waters. She'd been powerless to stop it.

What happened had already happened. She wasn't about to try to stop the impossible… she admitted that she'd lost her son to a game. Wait, that wasn't how whe was supposed to think. Hikaru wasn't her son, he was Shindou Hikaru , professional, Rising star of the Go World.

All she had the right to be was his mother.

But she was going to be darned if she didn't treasure that responsibility and make good use of it.  Hikaru was still a boy under her wing.

She was going to look after him and that was that.

Suddenly, she realised that Hikaru hadn't woken up yet. It was already eight in the morning and he was going to be late. She broke off form her reverie to rush to the foot of the stairs to shout at Hikaru.

"Hikaru, wake up! It's time for school! You're already late!"

A long pause followed.

"Wake up! Hikaru, you're already late!!"

Mrs Shindou smiled to herself, some things never did change.

You stuck all the way through?! ^^ Please review! Action will come later, I promise!