Disclaimer : I don't own Hikaru no Go.

Chapter 34 : Searching for Sai

" Sai..iiiii!" Falling on the Goban, Hikaru screamed at the top of her voice. In front of her was nothing but thin air. She could feel the coldness that the stones sent through her shirt to her skin, therefore, it wasn't a dream for sure, it was real. She looked at her shaking empty hand, there was nothing in it, " Sai," With a haunted look in her eyes, she whispered quietly, " Sai,"

She slowly got up and looked around the room. It was just an ordinary day, another sunny day, the sky was blue, the cloud lazily moved slowly. Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, Dopey and Doc, all the teddy bears that her father gave to her as a birthday present for the past 7 years, were sitting on her bed smiling at her as if nothing had happened. A see-through curtain dangled freely as gentle wind blew softly. Hikaru herself felt a tender breeze softly touching her face causing her long hair sway lightly in the air.

" Ha! Very funny! This is not a good time to play Hide and Seek!" she said strictly, " So, Quit playing and come out immediately!" she ordered sharply.

………….

…………. But no one came out.

" I'm warning you, Sai, you'd better come out, if not, you're gonna regret it!" She spoke with a warning tone.

…………

…………Still, there was no Sai.

" Fine! Remember that I've already given you a chance," she said coldly before forcefully opening the door of her big wardrobe.

Only her clothes were in there, not Sai.

Then she knelt down and looked under her bed.

…………..No Sai.

" Sai, this is not fun anymore!" Closed to tears, Hikaru uttered with trembling voice.

………...

………….

Trying with hard effort to fight back tears, she begged the ghost with eyes filled with tears, " Sai, I'm gonna cry now, you hate to see me crying, don't you? So, come out,"

…………A wind blew soothingly, yet, Sai didn't show himself.

She swiftly stormed out the room and began to search every room in the house, including the bathroom and the restroom. She even looked in the cupboard and under the dinning table. Sai, Sai, Where are you?

" Hikaru, what are you doing?" Mitsuko asked irritably, " What's the noise? Hikaru! Wait!" she cried out as she saw her daughter hurriedly ran up the stairs sprinting to her room.

" I had a great time, Be strong," Talking to herself, Hikaru repeated the ghost's last line, " What the hell does it mean?...No way," she covered half of her face in fear as a really really terrible thought crossed her mind, " It can't be, it can't be," Then she hurriedly ran down the stairs again. Don't you dare, Sai! Don't you even think about it!

Seeing the blonde putting on her shoes, Mitsuko questioned, " You just came back! Where are you going?"

" To Grandpa's!" the young girl yelled in answer and galloped to her grandfather's house.

Shindou Heihachi's residence

" What is it? Hikaru? Why suddenly you want to look at the Goban again?" Panting lightly, Heihachi posed. Out of the blue, his favorite granddaughter had rashly stomped into his house and declared that she wanted to see his old dirty worthless Goban. When he had handed her the key to the storehouse, she had practically dashed into the said building, he had to run to catch up with her, " Did you leave something here?"

Hikaru didn't reply the old man, she hurriedly climbed up to the 2nd floor where her grandpa kept the Goban there. Sai? He's not here either, Eh?

Noticing something, she drew closer to the board and uttered in disbelief, " The stain is all gone?" What? What is going on? She asked herself, " Why? First, Sai disappears and now the stain too?"….NO! Although it was hard to accept, finally she got it right in the end. The truth was always be the truth, no matter how much you denied it, no matter how bitter painful it was, it was still be the truth. This is the reason he's been acting weird lately? He knew that he was going to disappear? No! Then why didn't he tell me about it? We are friends, right? We are like…brother and sister! A Family!

" Hikaru, come down here," Heihachi called, " It's dark over there, what if a ghost show up," he joked humorously.

" That would be great!" Hikaru retorted piercingly, that was exactly the reason why she came here anyway, to find her ghost.

" Eh?"

" Grandpa! When ghosts fade away?" She demanded.

" You mean, Go to heaven to rest in peace, right?" Puzzled by the weird question, Heihachi frowned, " When they have nothing left to do or to worry about, I guess," he hesitantly replied.

" I thought so!" the blonde shouted harshly. Then why? Why did he go then? He hasn't reached the Hand of God yet! I bet he wanna lives for another thousand years! " Grandpa! Where can I find a ghost?"

" Huh? You want to meet a ghost?" the confused grandfather exclaimed with bombshell, " Hikaru, dear, are you alright? Do you have a fever or something?" She wants to meet a ghost?

" Grandpa! Answer me!" Hikaru yelled irately, " Where can I find a ghost?" she pressed.

" Err…err," Seeing her demanding glare, Heihachi stammered, " Where they love to go when they were alive, Err…. And a creepy place like the cemetery, I guess?"

Where they love? The cemetery! Yes! Torajiro's grave!

" Wait! Hikaru! Where are you going!" he cried as his granddaughter rushed out the building.

It was hard to judge if Kawai was a good taxi driver or not. He knew the road and every short cut in Tokyo very well but he was lazy and rude, these were the two most unacceptable manners for taxi drivers, especially the last one.

He was driving along this quiet residential neighborhood for a while now, he was wondering if it was really possible to get any customer in this graveyard. Out of no where, a girl ran out from a house ahead. The moment she saw his taxi, she waved eagerly giving him a signal.

Unbelievable, but it seemed that he got a client at last. He quickly drove towards and parked by her. The girl hurriedly opened the door and jumped into his car without delay.

" Tora..No, Honinbo Shuusaku's grave!" she told him tensely, " Drive as fast as you can, please!"

Yeah, this was the kind of client that he liked.

" No problem, Little Miss," Grinning widely, Kawai assured her, " To Shuusaku's grave!" Speaking loudly with contentment, he stamped his foot on the accelerator.

He drove even faster than Ogata as if he was competing in F1 racing, the cab which now became a racing-car to him nearly flied. Still, it wasn't his fault, " As fast as you can" his customer had told him, he only wanted to be a good driver by following her command, that was all, he himself didn't like driving fast, the safety always came first to him. Who am I kidding with? This is me we're talking about!

Normally, Kawai was a talkative guy, some even said that he talked too much, he always had a friendly casual chat with his passenger. However, since he was driving very fast at this moment, he kept his mouth shut and concentrated on driving only. Though he was a speed-ster, he didn't want any accident to happen, yes, even he had professional ethics.

He didn't have time to turn around to look at his client's face as he was eying the road ahead only. Still, he could see her reflection on the rear-view mirror. She had on a white jacket over a navy/black striped slim sporty top. She must be very hurried, he could tell it from the way she tapping her finger anxiously on her knee.

Then, they were struck on a traffic jam. Kawai thought that it was time to make a conversation since the boring silence was killing him right now. Besides, he wanted to help the girl, maybe his silly stupid joke could brighten her up and bring a smile to her face.

" Honinbo Shuusaku's grave, huh? So you play Go too? Me too! It's heartening to know that young people like you play this awesome game!" he talked rapidly, " Do you know the Go salon called ' Dougenzaka'? I go there everyday! I know it, why don't you go there some….," he turned around to look at his passenger's face for the very first time since she got into his car, " You!" Jaws dropped wide open, he gaped with great surprise. Taking off his sun glasses, he rubbed his eyes and took a second look at her to make sure that his eyes didn't fool him, " Holy shit! You are Shindou Hikaru!" Pointing his finger at the girl rudely, he yelled wildly.

" Huh?" With no interest, Hikaru uttered quietly as she came back to the real world, "Aa," If she was her old self, she would probably blush deeply into crimson-red and say something like, ' You….you know me?' However, she wasn't herself today. Seriously, she was not in the mood at all. For God's sake! Sai was missing!

Forgetting about the girl's uneasiness, Kawai was too excited to notice the sorrow in her eyes, " I saw your picture in Weekly Go! You passed the exam with no loss! Good job! Little girl!" Praising her, he chatted excitedly and happily as if they were old friends who had known each other for a decade, " Hey! Can I ask you something? I heard it from Doumoto, well, he is my friend, we play together at Dougenzaka….Where are we? Oh, that's right. Doumoto told me that he heard it from a Shinjuku guy who came to challenge him for a game yesterday, If I'm not mistaken, it seems that that Shinjuku guy heard it from his friend from Ikebukuro, who heard it from his brother-in-law from Nihonbushi, who heard it from his cousin who lives in Odaiba whose nephew is an insei…Anyway, Doumoto told me that…"

/ Beep Beep/ A sharp loud noise from a car horn came from the car behind them urging them to move the car as the light had turned green already.

" Damn it!" I haven't asked her yet! Turning around, he changed up into a higher gear to get faster. So the car started moving again, and the journey continued. He grumbled moodily as he kept on driving, " Why everybody is so hurried! Don't worry, Hikaru-chan! We're almost there!"

" Oh, really? Good," Looking out the window, Hikaru said lifelessly as if she dropped her soul somewhere. Sai, Sai, Be there, please, Sai, Be there for me.

" Ha! I know! Listen, Hikaru-chan, I'm not gonna charge you!" the loud driver declared.

" Eh?" What?

" I'll let you ride for free!" he guffawed noisily.

" Oh, no, Thank you, sir, but really, you don't have to…,"

" How can I charge you! Master and the others will kill me for sure if they find out that I take money from Shindou Hikaru!" Talking noisily, he cut in, " Let's say that you and I happen to have the same destination so I give you a ride,"

" But…,"

" Speaking of it, why don't I visit the tomb with you?" Kawai spoke happily. What a great idea! Man, I'm a genius!

" Huh?" No! I wanna look for Sai alone!

" Com'on! Let's go together! I wanna go there too! Eh? Ah! I have to turn at this corner!" he suddenly turned right, " Ha! Wait until I tell them about this! They gotta be so jealous, haha! Ah! Here we are! Honmyori Temple!" he parked the car in front of the temple.

Hikaru tilted her head forward to read the meter," 1500 Yen then."

/ Bang/ Someone slammed the door violently, and it wasn't her.

" Eh?" Apparently that the loud man got out the car while she was searching her bag for her wallet. She looked out the window, Kawai was waving at her urging her to join him.

I don't have time for this! Hikaru hurriedly jumped out the car, " Wait! Sir! The fee!" she cried out but the impatient taxi driver didn't wait for her, he speedily raced up the stairs to the temple instead.

Seeing the temple, the worried girl turned her attention to her first priority, her beloved ghost! Sai! As she remembered the reason that brought her here in the first place, she completely forgot about the bearded man and the fee that she should pay. Sai, Sai, Sai. She called him over and over again as she rushed to the graveyard with great haste. Sai!

The air suddenly changed when she finally made it to there. Trees and hundreds of gray cold stones stood here in silence as if they didn't want to disturb the spirit who rested peacefully in this sacred land. "Sai! Sai…i! Where are you? Sai! I'm here! If you can hear me, answer me!" Looking around, she quickly scanned for her dearly loved brother. However, not only her ghost, she didn't even glimpse at any other ghost around here. Sai?

" Here! Over here! Shuusaku is here!" Waving his hand excitedly, Kawai called her.

Torajiro! Sai must be there! Running to Shuusaku's grave, Hikaru prayed to God silently. God, please, let me find him there!

/Huff Huff/

" See?" Kawai pointed at the name on the burial chamber, it was Torajiro's grave, there was no mistake, yet, there was no sign of Sai.

Torajiro! Promptly going down on her knees, Hikaru put her hands together, tilted her head down and closed her eyes as she asked Torajiro for help. " Torajiro, although we have never met, you do know how I feel, right? I love Sai as much as you do, so, please, help me find him. Tell me where he is or tell him to come back to me, please, help me! Torajiro, I'm begging you!" Then she opened her eyes, quickly stood up and looked around wishing that the childish ghost would be standing by her side smiling at her again.

Still, there was no Sai, only the unfamiliar taxi driver.

Sai! She started running around the place in hope of seeing her brother again.

" Hey!" Kawai called out.

" Sai! Sai! It's me! Come out!" However, no matter how much she tried, how loud she cried, the result was still the same. Sai had gone. Though she didn't want to accept it, it was true anyway.

" No, Give him back, God, please, " With tears poured down her face, she pleaded inaudibly.

But God didn't answer her prayer. No Sai.

Looking up to the sky, she demanded, " Give him back! Return thing to the beginning! Return time to when I first met him!" Maybe her voice wasn't loud enough to reach God in heaven, therefore, her wish fell on deaf ears. There were just her, the silence, the sadness and the unheard prayer.

Losing all the hope and strength to stand, her knees grew weak, she dramatically sat on the step of the chilly stairs and burst out into tears.

" Where is she?" Casting his eyes over the cemetery, Kawai looked for the girl, " Ah! There she is!" He exclaimed gladly when he saw the figure of the girl, " Hey, Hikaru-chan, why did you run away like that? Huh? Eh? Are you…" Gasped with shock, he just noticed that she was crying, " Hikaru-chan, what happens? Why are you crying?"

" xxxxxxx"

" What? What did you say?" he questioned with worry, he couldn't hear her clearly.

Looking up, this time the blonde answered sharply, with face soaking wet with tears of sorrow, " He's gone!"

" What? You mean Shuusaku?" the nosy man got confused, " But he's gone like….for 100 years!" Isn't it too late to grieve for his death now?

Hikaru said nothing any future but loudly exploded in tears instead.

Kawai was completely totally absolutely lost here. What the hell was going on? What should he do in this kind of situation? First, he found out that his customer was no one else but the famous new wave, Shindou Hikaru, so he decided to pay a respect at Shuusaku's tomb with her. When they arrived the temple, the young pro dashed to the grave and made a long long serious prayer to the Honinbo as if she begged for the world's domination. As soon as, she finished praying, she ran around the place like crazy. When he himself had done his prayer, she began to search for her. Here she was, sitting on the stairs, hugging her knees tight, burying her face in her arms, the most famous eye-catching female Go pro right now was sobbing uncontrollably with her body shaken.

Not knowing what to do, Kawai scratched his head in unease, he was facing a real dilemma here. Although he was a chatty guy, he didn't know what to say or how to deal with a crying teenage girl. He had no daughter but a son who he highly doubted if he was a boy or a monkey in a boy's skin. His wife wasn't a weeping type either, as far as he remembered, she had never cried, she was a strong woman… very very strong. She would survive, even he intentionally hit her with his car!

Damn it! I can't just leave her crying alone in the cemetery like this! It's too tragic! Man! He walked away to give the girl some privacy and brought out his lighter and his cigarette and began to smoke.

Kawai didn't know how long the time passed by, from time to time, he would sneak a quick look at the blonde to make sure that she didn't get faint or do something stupid.

An hour went by, the loud heartbreaking sob turned to be a weak whimper.

After 2 hours, the drained weep finally stopped.

He gradually approached towards her, the girl had stopped crying already, it seemed that she had cried her eyes out, there was no tear left to cry anymore. He gently patted her shoulder and said quietly, " Let's go, I'll take you home,"

With nothing reflected in her empty eyes, Hikaru stood up and limply went back to the car like a ghost. Sai Why did you have to go?

In front of Shindous' house,

Getting off the car, Hikaru handed the kind driver the fee, " Here, please take it,"

Pushing the money back to girl, Kawai shook his head, " I'm not gonna charge you, I told you," How could he take money from this poor girl anyway?

" But, sir," the cheerless blonde insisted. She did want him to take it, he didn't only drive her there, he also kept her company, took care of her and brought her back to home safely. He did deserve it, he should even get " The Taxi of The Year Reward".

" Stop calling me as Sir, it tickles me!" Trying to melt down the sadness in the air, the joyful man talked pleasantly as he brought out a business card from his pocket. He wrote something on its back before giving it to her " My name is Kawai, Call me whenever you want to take a cab, okay? I wrote down the map to Dougenzaka on the back, don't forget to drop by sometimes," Opening the door of the car, he said rapidly.

" Ka..Kawai-san!" Hikaru hurriedly called out before he left.

" Yes?"

" …Thank you, sir," With an ultimate grateful look, she bowed respectfully, " Thank you for everything,"

" Haha, don't call me Sir! Just Kawai will do! See you at Dougenzaka! Bye!" Then he got in to his car and drove away.

Seeing the car moving away, Hikaru spoke to herself forlornly, " Without Sai by my side, what's the point in playing Go anyway?"

A/N : At first, I want it to rain in this scene but it'll be wayToo Sad! Kawai-san! You're the man!

Kage.exe: "sai will come right?" Come where?

OokamiFuu: About your question, the answer is the next chapter :)

Mirehime: "you are a very evil person!" AndI'm very proud of it! ( haha!)

Kireshai-chan837, Ady, Yue Ryong - Shadowborne, Xiar and GiftfrombelowI'd better stay in a safe house for a while, I bet many of you want to kill me now - -"

Rebbi: Rebbi! Are you alright?

Kinlin : Suyong? He'll be in the continuation.

Kathy: " I'm too busy now trying not to cry to kill you," I'm lucky then.

Thuyhy-thuyhy:" I feel very sorry for Sai , he , after all , have a very unlucky life , poor Sai" As the old say, " The beauty comes with bad luck"

KazeKiryoku: "in my opinion, the story isn't the same as the anime at all" I'm glad to hear that, really. ( Because I got a lot of complaint about writing a fic the same as the Anime)

Karin: "That old? But Akira is only 15 in this fic right?" Com'on, Kouyo looks really old ( At least to me) And Yes, Akira is 15 now.

Zeynel : " I simply ADORE the way you handle things with Ogata" Heehee, I really like him. Kawai? Here, See? I finally mention him. Well, the answer for your question is in the next chapter :)

Hikaru Kotobashi: Dear friend, Do you actually think that I wanna be a good girl:PThank you for the link anyway :)

Lilac-Blossom-Neko : "does this mean the fic is ending?" Yap.

NamiLuver : What about this chapter? Still wanna cry?