Title: In memory of

Author: Guardian of fantasy

Fandom: Hikaru no Go

Paring: none

Prologue

Clanking sounds disturbed the calm sphere of the old house. They came from the old shed in Heihachi's house. Sometimes they were followed with an outcry of frustration and some curses. The source of this noise was of one eight year old boy who was ransacking the shed in search of valuables, that he might be able to sell.

No, he was not a burglar or a neighboring kid trying to be though by stealing stuff from the old man, he was in fact the grandson of the owner of this house and the noise he was making was because he was seeking things to sell to get money from, because once again his parents cut him off for getting a bad grade on his paper.

That Hikaru didn't receive his allowance was not an unusual occurrence. In fact it happened more so than not, but this week a new game was available in the stores, a game that he must have, a game that all his friends were going to have too, and if he didn't have it he wouldn't be able to join in their discussion of the game.

His parents won't relent though, not even when he said that if they gave his allowance now that he didn't need it next week. They thought it would teach him to study better and they even dared to say that he could just buy the game a week later!

They thought it would build up his discipline, as if he needed more patience. So here he was, searching through the old stuff that was lying in his grandfathers shed, collecting dust. That was the reason why Hikaru decided to take something from here. His grandfather wouldn't miss it, and he didn't use it at all, as was proven from the amount of dust it was collecting.

His hopes of getting something valuable were disappearing quickly. He only found old scrolls, decayed and moldy by age, and old picture albums. He never wanted to see his grandmother in a bikini again! That image has scarred him for live. And his grandfather in speedo, he still could feel a shiver travelling down his spine and the mere thought of it.

"Aaagh, I'll never get that game at this rate!" Hikaru screamed out loud, his hands grabbing his hair, while he looked desperately at the cobweb covered ceiling.

"Hikaru, are you up there" came an inquiring voice from downstairs. Hikaru blinked. His grandfather must have heard him screaming. Well no use hiding from him. Maybe if he told him why he was up there his grandfather would lend him some money. Yeah, that sounded good.

Maybe he had to play Go for it though. His grandfather had started to teach him lately. In the beginning, about a year ago, the young boy thought the game interesting, but once he told his friends about Go they started to laugh with him for playing an old man's game. Since then Hikaru has lost his interest in the game. Or at least pretended to. His grandfather wasn't as easily fooled as Hikaru's friends were.

His grandfather still made him play sometimes, saying that if Hikaru would win that he would give him money. Hikaru than pretended that he didn't want to play, but the look in his face while playing were unmistakingly the look of someone who enjoyed playing.

"Yeah, I'm here gramps." He yelled just at the moment that some dust fell down from the ceiling, aiming right at Hikaru's wide open mouth. The inhaling of the dust made Hikaru cough loudly, trying to get the dust out of his lungs.

"Hikaru? Are you ago." His grandfather sounded worried, but Hikaru could not answer him, for he was busy hacking out his lungs and trying to breath in the same time.

"Hikaru? Hikaru? That's it I'm coming up." Heihachi climbed up the rarely used stairs to go see what was wrong with his beloved grandson, but by a fate was against him. A scroll that Hikaru had carelessly thrown behind himself had landed on a step of the stairs, and Heihachi being as worried as he was did not see it and stepped on it, causing him to fall to the bottom.

A loud thump echoed through the hall, and Hikaru hearing it, immediately went to see what happened, even when he was still having the, subsided, cough.

"Grandfather?" came the hesitant question of Hikaru, when he saw the old man lying at the bottom of the stairs, not moving. Then he saw the blood, slowly seeping from a wound from the back of the man's head.

At eight year old, Hikaru did know that some wounds were dangerous and that one did not stand idle by, just watching, so he didn't. Instead he started to scream, a loud panic filled scream that must have been heard throughout the whole street.

Hikaru rushed down the stairs, nearly falling down himself, screaming at his grandfather to wake up. His breath was coming in shorter gasps with each one he took and soon he found him falling in a panic attack, not able to scream and barely able to breathe.

It was so that one if the neighbors found them. She had come when she heard the screaming. There was always a lot of noise when the grandson of Heihachi came to visit, but never this much, and the screaming.

She was an old woman, whose husband had died years ago and left her with a considerable fortune, making it possible to live in a fancy neighborhood with nice people. She had known Heihachi very well. They often played Go with each other. He always won, he was such a strong and strangely energetic player.

So it shocker her to see that strong man lying there on the ground, his head coated in his own blood. His grandson clung to his chest, trying to say things while having trouble breathing, tears traveling down his cheeks.

The first thing she did was call an ambulance, hoping against hope that the wound wasn't fatal. Head wounds always bled a lot, that's why there was so much blood. She kept telling herself that, while she tried to pry the young boy away from the old man's chest.

The ambulance did not take long to arrive and they hurried Heihachi of to the hospital. Midori, as was the old woman's name, said she would look after the traumatized boy, and she would try to contact his parents.

The boy was catatonic. He didn't speak or move, he just sat there, tears streaming out of his eyes and his breathe wheezing out of his mouth?

Luckily, Heihachi was an organized man, and it didn't take long to find a little booklet with the phone number of the parents of Hikaru in it. She called them, and a woman picked up the phone.

It was strange, she would tell herself after, how calm that she had sounded while she explained the situation to the hysterical woman. She did not take the news well, she sounded that she almost would have a heart attack herself.

Midori mentioned Hikaru and the woman, called Mitsuko, calmed herself a bit. She asked if he was all right and ensured that she would come right away. Yes, mothers, always the most concerned about their offspring.

It did not take long for Mitsuko to arrive and take away her son and drive to the hospital. Hikaru didn't say a word the whole time during the drive.

They arrived and were told that Heihachi was still in surgery. That was a good thing. If he was un surgery that must mean he is still alive! Hope glowed in Hikaru's eyes with this message and his mother was relieved too, but didn't dare to get her hopes up.

They waited for hours in the waiting room of the hospital. The clock ticked slowly, at a snail's pace for hours and still they waited. Then finally a doctor came out.

Hikaru and his mother stood up, looking hopeful at the man, but he just shook his head and started explaining that they were too late. Hikaru's mind blanked out when his mother started sobbing hysterically. This was not what was supposed to happen. In a hospital they saved lives, why couldn't they save his grandfathers live?

Sadness was growing in his heart, but guilt came up too. A little voice in his head that whispered that if he wasn't there, if he hadn't so carelessly thrown away that scroll, if he didn't suddenly start coughing that his grandfather would still be alive.

The funeral happened just a few days after. Hikaru didn't say a word and didn't eat all day, refusing to say acknowledge his grandfathers departure. If he pretended that it didn't happen, then it didn't happen at al. Right?

His parents were getting worried, they hadn't paid the young boy lots of attention since they organizing of the funeral took up most of it. But now it was all over, they didn't even recognize they energetic boy that was supposed to be their son. Even the promise of ramen couldn't help. He just looked at them with a blank stare.

They decided to try to bring him to some counseling sessions for professional help. They didn't know how to deal with this, they barely got over the dead of their beloved father themselves.

They didn't help. Hikaru went and didn't say a word, just stared at the woman who was supposed to help him. She talked to him about his grandfather, but she didn't know anything. She hadn't even known the old man that was obsessed with Go. And just how obsessed with Go.

The inheritance came free, and Hikaru, as only other of the family that played Go had gotten a special treasure that his grandfather had kept hidden in the same shed which Hikaru had ransacked. They were boxes filled with trophies from amateur Go tournaments. It made Hikaru want to cry. His grandfather was so proud on his ability to play the game and Hikaru had been too ashamed to admit it to his friends, and to himself that he had liked the game.

He opened the last box and looked in it. Kifu, lots of Kifu. Some old, the paper almost falling in pieces, some copied on newer paper. And amidst all those papers was a book, it looked old, but not super old. And another book, about the same size, but carefully sealed in plastic wrap, trying to conserve the old paper.

He opened the newer book, and a tiny paper fell out. "To Heihachi Shindo; I translated the book in modern Japanese for you, now you own me a Go game old man; Takanade Hiruma."

As if his grandfather would have minded to give the other man a Go game. But Hikaru's curiosity was piqued. A translated book that his grandfather wanted to give him.

He carefully opened the book. It was translated from a book that was estimated to be a thousand years old, probably the other book that was in the box too.

"Reaching for The Hand Of God; Fujiwara no Sai" the book began and Hikaru started to read the story that his grandfather wanted him to know, the one that he had left to Hikaru

"My name is Fujiwara no Sai and this is my story. The only story of my life that is ever written on paper. This is the story which I have to tell."

"My name is Fujiwara no Sai and in the Heian period I held a position in the capital as Go instructor to the emperor. It was such a happy time for me, I was able to play Go every day.

In addition to myself, there was one other Go instructor. One day he approached the emperor with a suggestion.

"Sir." He said "I believe that you have need for only one Go instructor."

The emperor, in all his wisdom let us play a game to decide who shall keep his position."

Why couldn't they both play, the emperor must have been rich, why couldn't he afford to have two Go instructors working for him. Why didn't he tell the other one that he would decide if he needed only one Go instructor or not.

"The game was dead even. Everyone's attention was drawn to the board; it was only by a mere chance that I saw it. A single white stone lay in my opponent's Go bowl.

To have one of your opponent's stones mixed in with your own is highly unusual, it has been known to happen.

This of course has nothing to do with game play. A player need just to explain the situation and return the misplaced stone to his opponent's Go bowl, However that scoundrel…"

The next few words were crossed out very sloppily. Hikaru grinned at this. It seemed that Fujiwara no Sai had trouble to keep his temper. And knew quite some cuss words too, funny that they had been translated and scratched through too. But then his smile saddened when he read on.

"He waited for an opportune moment and then he placed the stone in with his prisoners…

Hikaru looked in those pages with shock. The guy cheated? In front of the emperor? Some nerve this guy had. Hikaru knew a bit of Go and he knew how he hated cheating people when he was playing games and knew too that Go and cheating should never go together.

"And just when I was about to call him on his foul he rang the accusation. He told the whole court that he saw me add a black stone with my prisoners.

The only thing that I could do was deny it and accuse him. Just when it was about to get out of hand, the emperor called for silence."

"He did not believe that someone would commit such an ugly offense in his presence and we had to play further."

Strange, the guy let one of his Go instructors decide that he only needed one, but he didn't even consider that someone dared to cheat when he was around. Quite an air around himself, Hikaru thought to himself.

"Upset with the turn of events, I was unable to calm down myself.

I lost that game.

Hikaru almost felt the intense sadness and despair that this stranger must have felt at this injustice. He read further, needing to know what his guy had done, what had happened of him.

"To add insult to injury, my reputation is irreparably tarnished…I was banished from the capital for my alleged treachery."

Banned as a cheater? But the emperor didn't believe that anybody dared to cheat. Besides if there was cheating, isn't it most probably that the winner had cheated?

"Now, dearest reader, I have no other skills of Go, and now, in my time I cannot practice it anymore. When you read this it means that I am dead. Thrown in the river by myself.

But before I give my life away, I must make sure that my Go will live on.

The further pages in this book are dedicated to learn a complete starter at Go, everything I know about it. I hope that one day someone will reach the Hand Of God with this as his guide.

Stranger I thank you for letting my Go live on, forever."

Hikaru held back tears that have flowed too much over the past few weeks. This guy had found something so precious in Go that he would die for it. His grandfather had loved Go too. Maybe by giving him this, he was telling Hikaru that he had to try to love the game too.

The Hand Of God; the book said. Maybe he could try to reach for it, than he would have something in common with his grandfather. He already knew the basics of Go, having been able to almost defeat his grandfather. But he had been barely playing at all, and he only knew those basics for a year.

But maybe with the book of this sad stranger he could reach further and grow stronger at the game. Yes, that was what he was going to do, reaching for the Divine Move, even though he might never reach it.

He looked at the box and took out a Kifu. Where they Sai's too? He looked at them and saw the name "Honinbo Shusaku". Hmm, never heard of him. He looked over the Kifu, something his grandfather had learned him to read, and saw that he seemed quite good, but his ability in the game wasn't as good as to discern just how good a player that man had been.

He removed all the kifu from the box and started to arrange them, looking at the date's written on the papers. To his surprise there was one thing more in the box. It had been covered with kifu and now that he removed it he saw an old Goban standing with two Goke's.

He took it out and made it the centerpiece of his room. He opened the little book and started to learn, his mind already thinking about how he was going to play against other people to see how much he had learned without making his parents worry too much over him.

The instructions in the book were simple, working with examples, but still expressing the need to play against other people, for this was the best way to learn. Sometimes some extra notes were scribbled in the sideline, this one had been translated to. He leaved through the book and saw a name written with one of the scrabbles. Shusaku. He had obviously learned from this book too, and had found it necessary to write the more important modernizations of play in the book too.

Hikaru learned to enjoy the little anecdote that littered between instructions about games that Sai had played and tricks he had learned, making Hikaru laugh and feel as if he knew this ghost from the past himself. Shusaku had sometimes written some amusing situations too where he had found himself outdated and he quickly countered that problem.

He bought himself more books about Go and after some searching around he finally found a way to play Go against lots of people. His ancient computer that his parents had given him after they didn't need it anymore. It was big and slow, but it had internet connection.

And thus it was at eight year old, that Hikaru created his account on the net and choose as his username "Karu5". He had tried to use Hikaru first, but that was already taken, then he used Hikaru5 but that was taken too. He had first about using Sai as name for his account, but it felt wrong to do it now.

So here he was, challenging his first person.

Karu5 versus MightyStone

TBC

Hope you liked this new version, and in two weeks next chapter.