Hikaru watched as The Dragonling snapped his finger, and before Hikaru's eyes, lines of brilliant white light crisscrossed across the night sky, creating what looked like a graph, but what Sai could tell was the surface of a Goban. Hikaru watched, mesmerized, as the lines expanded until they took up most of the sky. It seemed to shimmer with promise.

Water dripped onto Hikaru's forehead, and he looked to up to see where it was coming from. Sai was crying silently, tears streaming down his face.

"It is beautiful, is it not?" The ghost said softly, staring up at theconstellation.

Hikaru looked at the board surface, his green eyes reflecting the stars. "Yes." He said. "I suppose it is."

The Dragonling gestured for Hikaru to sit next to him, and Hikaru obliged, the first bits of nervousness roiling in his stomach, but he tried to ignore it. All at once, at least three dozen stars rained down on them, gathering on the ground like soft, glittering snow. In awe, Hikaru sifted his hand through the stars. Some were small, slightly tarnished, where others were silver, shiny, huge, at least the size of his hand. As he tried to pick up these impressive stars, he found them so heavy he couldn't lift it.

Sai! How am I supposed to play for you when I cannot even hold them?!

"Allow me, Hikaru." Sai said, and put his hand right into Hikaru's. Transparency laced with physical flesh, Sai slowly lifted Hikaru's arm, and the boy shivered. I really am a puppet now! Ah, well. If I can't hold the stars, Sai can do it for me. I'm surprised he could even control me.

Hikaru watched his finger wrap around the star, the light glowing through his fingers. The moment was lost when The Dragonling said, "I go first, Shindo." and Hikaru (or rather, Sai) put down the star. The Dragonling picked up a star as easily as if it were a cotton ball, and flicked it into the sky, landing on an interlocking place on the grid. Sai used Hikaru to pick up his star and flick it into the sky to land somewhere else on the board.

It was, without a doubt, one of the strangest game Hikaru had ever played. Not only could he not tell who was black and who was white (the stars remained the same color of silver) but the stars kept moving on their own! Sai or The Dragonling would place a star somewhere on the board, and it would just drift along to another place! Which was really quite annoying, especially when you consider the fact that even normal stars don't move. But Sai must have had much more experience than Hikaru had thought, for he always found a way to go around these problems, always found a way to adapt to it. The Dragonling's eyes slowly widened until they were almost the size of Tennis balls. Hikaru didn't understand why he seemed so shocked; sure, Sai must have been a great player, but The Dragonling was good also. At least I think so. I'm not exactly a veteran like Sai, I can't even keep up…

Now Hikaru was seriously worried that The Dragonling might be having some sort of attack. He was breathing heavily and his eyes kept flickering to him and Sai. Sai merely kept his narrowed eyes on the game the entire time, watching the stars drift, forming patterns and latticework that Hikaru couldn't even begin to comprehend. There started a small spark in him, and though it was small, and barely burning, it was there. It was like a hunger–no, a desire…

He heard the Dragonling say something next to him.

"I-I resign."

Hikaru glanced to his side to see The Dragonling staring up at the game in awe. There was an odd, unidentifiable look on his face. That look...it made Hikaru feel unsettled. It wasn't as though the game had been anything serious...why did The Dragonling look the way he did? Wary and respectful. Feeling awkward, Hikaru got up slowly and walked backwards to the exit, beckoning to Sai, who blinked like somebody waking themselves and followed.

"Thank you for the game, but I'll just be going now..."

The Dragonling's head swiveled toward them, and he got up from his kneeling position. "Wait!"

But Hikaru, who was remembering all the stories he had read about dragons and how they could breathe fire, turned tail and ran, ran all the way down the tunnel. He didn't care anymore that it was dark and he could barely see.

I didn't know Go was such a cutthroat game!

Collapsing on the grass outside the mountain, Hikaru panted, hands on his knees, doubled over. Sai was not watching him, but looking back at the mountain, which now seemed to loom more humongous than ever.

"Hey, that's right!" Hikaru said suddenly, looking up at the mountain. "It is bigger than usual! We're still small!"

"I think that is the least of our problems right now, Hikaru." Sai said seriously.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean," Sai said quietly, tearing his eyes away from the mountain to gaze at his friend. "That I think a boy such as The Dragonling if not going to forget you in a hurry."

Hikaru scratched the back of his neck. "I still don't understand."

Sai rapped his fan against the palm of his hand. "Well, think, Hikaru! He saw you, a mere boy, play Go with the finesse of a seasoned pro! He did not know it was I using you to play. He is going to come after you, Hikaru."

"Well, I think I can take him if he comes after me." Hikaru said flippantly, a lot more confident now he was out of the cave. "He's only a young Dragon, after all. And how will he manage to find me?"

"I do not know." Sai said gravely. "But mark my words Hikaru, he will find you any way he can."

A bit spooked by these words, Hikaru began his trek back to the (now horrendously large) forest.

"It's not like that means anything to me, anyway," He said. "I don't really care."

Sai decided not to comment on this, and only followed Hikaru into the woods, not knowing where they were going, or what would happen next.

Eventually, the pencil-thin forest around them turned into thick, monstrous pine trees. He was sure they would be tall even if he was normal size. His shrunken state bugged him a little, but he didn't pay much thought to it. Thinking and agonizing about it would only make the problem seem bigger. And so he walked around huge boulders and fallen branches with minimal irritation.

As he was walking past yet another tree, he heard rustling coming from up high in the branches. He looked directly up, curious, and saw a young squirrel sitting in the bows of the pine. It's fur was dark, and, most peculiarly, there were glasses on it's face. It was sighing heavily.

"Hello, up there!" Hikaru called. "Why are you so sad?"

The squirrel jumped and gazed down at Hikaru. "Oh my, oh my-" It said in wonder. "You're human. I'm speaking to a human."

"Yes. And I'm speaking to a squirrel." Hikaru pointed out. "This is new for me, too."

The squirrel shook its head. "Oh, I must have come off as terribly rude. Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Tsutsui. And you are?"

"Shindo Hikaru. And you didn't answer my question. Why are you sad?"

Tsutsui smiled a little. "Oh, I'm not sad. Only feeling a little under the weather. See, where I live it's very hard to practice Go because-"

"Go?" Hikaru blurted out as Sai perked up. "You play Go?"

Tsutsui nodded. Odd. Thought Hikaru. It seems that everybody here plays Go.

"It's hard to practice Go," Tsutsui continues. "Because the trees are so thick you can barely see the night sky. And I am supposed to manage a table at a festival tomorrow!" He sighed again and slumped up against the tree trunk.

"A festival?" Hikaru said, interested. "What festival?"

Tsutsui straightened up again. "A festival we animals hold here in the forest every year. I'm hosting a table at the festival–doing life-or-death Go problems."

"Is the festival at night?" Hikaru asked, thinking about the stars required in Go.

"Why would it be held at night?" Tsutsui said.

"Well, Go has to be played at night, doesn't it?" Hikaru spluttered defensively. "Don't you use stars?"

"It's not like stars and nighttime are the same thing, child!" Tsutsui chuckled.

Hikaru was confused beyond measure, but did not want to seem incompetent, so he asked Sai, forgetting that the squirrel was right in the tree above, and able to hear him.

"Sai, what does he mean?"
"I'm not sure." Sai said, squinting at the squirrel. "In my time, we only played at night. Perhaps it's changed..."

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, you know." Tsutsui said cheerily, hopping off the branch and landing on the forest floor in front of Hikaru. "But that's all right."

Tsutsui smiled. "We're all mad here, in one way or another."

Hikaru took a step back from him, not sure how to react to this pronouncement. "I'm not mad." He said slowly.

Tsutsui placed a hand on his shoulder, still smiling consolingly. "You may think that. Yet here you are, talking to me."

Hikaru shivered. "You're not mad either. And neither is this place."

"If you can't tell," Tsutsui said. "Maybe you're madder than I thought."

Hikaru didn't really know what to say to this either. They stood there, probably longer than necessary, in silence, staring at one another.

"Um," Hikaru said suddenly. "You said you're doing a table at the festival about Go, yes?"

Tsutsui nodded, adjusting his glasses, and Hikaru grinned, glancing over his shoulder at Sai.

Sai, will that be enough entertainment for you?

Sai nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes! That would be amazing!"

Hikaru turned his beaming face to Tsutsui, all conversations of madness forgotten, and said,

"Hey, can I come to the festival and help you out?"

And thus, this author smashed the canon-verse with her pointy toed-shoe, making Hikaru meet Tsutsui in a very odd fashionn.