Disclaimer: You think I own anything? I wouldn't be writing just fanfiction then.

Warnings: Meep. I dunno. Takes place at the end of episode 36. Touya Akira/Sai friendship. I guess you could say a tiny bit AU.

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            Sai stopped, rooted on the spot, staring at the young go player, tears springing unbidden in his eyes. 'Erase…Sai?' His hands trembled slightly, paper fan brushing against his lower lip. 'Hikaru…' The boy, bleached bangs swaying in the night breeze, yapped happily as he walked along. Sai didn't move; his eyes were starting to sting. He blinked several times, trying to clear away the pain. The water soaked through his squeezed lids, clumping together his thick, feminine lashes as the tears slid down his pale cheeks. He slowly sank to the floor, staring at the disappearing form of Shindo Hikaru.

A while later, the junior high student realized he was alone and blinked, surprised. Turning around, he noticed the ghost was nowhere in sight. "Sai? Sa~ai?" He huffed, shaking his head. The spirit must've gotten fascinated by another appliance or something. Sighing, Hikaru retraced his footsteps.

He was surprised to find he had needed to walk back almost the entire way, back to where the go match had taken place. There he found Sai sitting on his haunches as people walked through and past him. His hands were clenched and shaking. He was hunched over, his hair hiding his face. He screamed, pounding the ground mercilessly with his fists. "Dude, Sai? You coming?"
            "WHY?" He yelled roughly, looking up to he one whose conscience he shared. Hikaru noticed for the first time that Sai's eyes were red-rimmed, and his cheeks were drenched. "I'm just keeping people from seeing you, after all! I SHOULD JUST DISSAPEAR!" The living boy's eyes were wide and his mouth snapped shut. Sai added in an undertone. "Get erased…" He disappeared, running as far and fast in the other direction as he could. Hikaru stared after him with a fairly lost and dazed expression. He reached out slightly towards the vanishing spirit. "…Sai?"

Sai ran until he collapsed in tears near the lake in the park center. He curled into a tight ball, crying his heart out.

"He's good at making people feel unwanted, ne?"

The ghost jerked his head upwards, eyes wide, mouth slightly agape. The speaker's head turned and his eyes met Sai's. He smiled a small, secret smile, choppy hair sifting slightly in the wind.

"Touya-san…"

"Yes. I can see you…Sai, I believe?"

The spirit nodded dumbly and Akira stood, strolling over, and squatted in front of the ghost, whipping his tears away. "He doesn't mean to, he just wants to be known for himself. Besides… I can see you. He'll never erase you from my mind." He smiled secretly again and it was entirely too much for Sai, who launched himself into the young boy's arms and sobbed openly. They both stayed there a while, the 7th grader with his arms around the millennia-old spirit, until Sai had stopped crying and just rested quietly in the hug. Akira watched the sun rise with a glimmer in his eyes before he glanced down at Sai dark purple hair- the conical hat was lying on the ground near them.

"Sai, would you like to play a game of Go?"

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-That spring-

Akira's father approached him curiously, and the boy glanced at the serious man with a bemused expression. "What is it father?"

"Akira, I've noticed you've been playing against yourself a lot lately. Most people play very empty games when they play against each other because they know both sides' tactic. This doesn't seem to be the problem with you."

The teen rubbed his head, grinning slightly. "Well, you see, it's like someone else is playing the other player almost, so I don't know that person's tactics." Sai smiled at him from across the board, but Touya-sama was blind to the ghost.

"Is that so? Well, in that case, I'd like to play about both your personality's combined tactics."

Akira smirked to himself, glancing at Sai. "Ready?" He mouthed.

"Ready," stated the ghost, a dangerous, mischievous gleam in his dark eyes.

Akira glanced at his father, smiling slightly. "We'd be glad to accept, Tou-san."

Sai slid from behind the board and joined Akira on his side, while the two Touyas cleared the board. And the sakura blossoms fell around them.