Reaching Ithaka
By For Eden

Chapter 1: Fated Meeting

It was a sunny day when he decided to make an impromptu stop at his Go Salon. His wife and son were gone for the afternoon to spend some quality time together, leaving him idle for the afternoon since he had no appointments or matches to attend to.

He had been meaning to make a visit at the salon for awhile, though his busy schedule did not permit it. Usually the one that frequented the salon was his son, Akira. Akira spent many of his days after school studying go, playing go, and discussing go with the patrons at the salon. He was quite pleased to see his son's interest and devotion to the game – go was an essential part of him that was passed down to Akira. His only wish would be for Akira to have a rival to play against; to help define his go and drive him to the height of his capabilities.

Not having a rival was also a problem he was facing. He accelerated through the ranks when he first became a pro before spending many years gaining and losing titles until he received the honored title of Meijin. He was fortunate enough to play against the best players in Japan; however, none of them managed to push him towards the hand of god.

The hand of god was the perfect match among equals.

He had yet to find someone that was his equal.

When he entered his establishment, the familiar voice of Ichikawa Harumi, the receptionist, greeted him from the front desk. Standing next to her at the front desk was a young girl with blonde streaked hair, still in her school uniform. It seemed that his presence had interrupted the conversation that they had been having.

"Good afternoon, Touya-sensei."

He bowed his head slightly in greeting at the brunette. "Good afternoon, Ichikawa-san. I hope things are going well."

The child was peering at him curiously, possibly finding him a strange sight dressed up so traditionally in public. Though she might consider his dress an outlandish sight, he could argue that she herself was an oddity. It was quite rare for children to make appearances in places like these. It was especially rare for young girls to have an interest in go.

"Ah yes. It is. I was just setting…"

"Are you here to play go, mister?" The girl rudely cut off the receptionist in the middle of her sentence. Touya held back his tongue about her lack of manners, knowing that it was not his place to teach other people's children. He watched her as she seemed to survey the room; eyes darting at the patrons hunched over gobans, thinking hard about the next move before meeting his own.

"I'm looking for someone to play go with me. Ichikawa-san said there's no one my age to play here today …"

"My son Akira is usually here," acknowledged the professional. The girl appeared to be quite bubbly; a contrast to Akira's reserved demeanor. Akira had spent most of his life around adults and learned to behave at a young age. The girl's carefree attitude and childishness, though a bit rude, were traits he would not have minded if Akira had possessed. He could not help but wonder if introducing Akira to go at such a young age forced him to grow up too fast. He was constantly surrounded by adults and did not have any friends that were his age.

"It looks like everyone else is paired up right now. I guess we're stuck playing with each another."

The young girl spoke to him casually, without any acknowledgement that she was being quite brave to insist on a game against a titled go professional. Ichikawa gave her a strange look after her declaration. It was quite obvious by her comment that the middle school girl did not recognize who he was. He wondered how much go the girl knew if she did not know much about the go world.

"Shindou-san, Touya-sensei doesn't have time to play go with you." Ichikawa clucked her tongue at the girl, disapproving at her lack of respect to the owner. The young girl furrowed her brows together in confusion at Ichikawa's words, obviously finding the woman's comment to be peculiar.

"I don't see why you would say that. I mean, he came to the salon to play didn't he?" There was no fault in her conclusion given her lack of knowledge. If she did not know much about the go world, than there was no way she would know who he was, let alone know that he owned the establishment.

He couldn't help but find the girl interesting. Even though she did not know much about the go world, she still managed to challenge him, out of all people, to playing a game with her. The girl was bold, young, and mysterious. There was something that seemed to lurk beneath the girl's childish veneer.

The air around her felt different. He was unable to pinpoint what it was about her that stirred his spirit up. Anticipation welled within him and the need to play the adolescent was strong. He wanted to unravel the mystery and understand the reason why he felt that he needed to play against her.

"We can play in the back room."

It was his intuition and curiosity that made him accept the girl's offer to play against him. Following your instinct was something that he and Kuwabara often spoke about during their meetings with one another. Listening to your instincts in life, and especially in go, was crucial to your livelihood. Though go was a game of strategy and planning, instinct can help you avoid a trap your opponent skillfully has created for you and ensure your life for the rest of the game.

He led her to the backroom, exchanging greetings to patrons that noticed him walking by. Once they reached the room, he informed Ichikawa that he did not want to be interrupted when playing the game.

"I'll make sure you two can play in peace." Ichikawa bowed to him before retreating back to the front desk. The young girl fidgeted a bit when he motioned for her to one of the tables with a goban set up on it. She slid into her seat.

"How much do you know about the game, Shindou-san?" He asked her, recalling the name Ichikawa had called the girl earlier.

"I know enough to play it…" she mumbled, her eyes downcast.

"Do you know about the komi rule?" He asked her patiently. He watched as she looked to the space to her right quickly and then back to him, her eyes wide in confusion. "How much of a handicap would you like?"

"I…" she nibbled at her bottom lip. She seemed to be thinking hard before she shook her head. "I don't need a handicap, sir. And could you explain what this komi rule is?"

He wondered how skillful the girl thought she was by not accepting a handicap from an adult. The girl was such an enigma. Akira had not even asked to play an even game with him – not yet at least.

While he explained to the girl the komi rule, he wondered if he should play a game of shidougo with the girl or not. The girl did not even hold the go stones properly in her hands. Rather, the way she held the stones were sloppy and inelegant, the way that beginners might go about holding the stones. .

Before he decided to play a teaching game with the girl, he was swept away by the intensity that surrounded her as the game began. The intensity that he felt around her was like the feeling he felt when he played against the higher-dans in the Room of Profound Darkness. It was an intensity that a mere child should not be capable of. It took many years of devoting one's life to go and playing game after game in order to attain that intensity. It was unfathomable how a mere child could have such a strength blazing from her as she played a game.

Her style of play was old. She played hands that once were conventional, but no longer commonly used. Her play style reminded him of the ingenuity of Honinbo Shusaku – adaptive to the circumstances and well thought out. He couldn't help but think of how much more a monster she would become if she modernized her play. Already he was having difficulties keeping up with the girl.

He had studied Shusaku's kufu when he was younger. He had always respected Shusaku and could not help but wonder how his go would have looked liked if he had the opportunity to play against the go legend.

Playing against the young girl made was like playing against Shusaku. Black and white battled each other throughout the board, fortifying what they could, attacking what they were able to until the game had entered yose.

In the end, he read far enough to know that he had won, by a few moku. Now all that was left was for her to realize it and resign.

"I have lost." The girl bowed in defeat.

"Thank you for the game," he responded.

He could not help but feel so exhilarated by the game that just unfolded on the goban. It had been so long since he felt so challenged and so excited when playing a game. The girl was a sleeping beast. Once she modernized her play, the margins between them will close in completely and who will win or lose would not be determined in advance. The titled go professional knew that he had finally found a rival to play against.

The hand of god was closer than he had dreamed.

She found his insistence with playing her again after she had lost to be surprising. It had taken her a moment of thinking to agree to play with him regularly. She mentioned something about how this should keep him happy before arranging weekly meetings at his house. He had even told her if she was uncomfortable with coming to his house to play go, he wouldn't mind meeting her at the salon or even at her house.

It was a shock when she mentioned something about not having a goban at home. How she had become so skilled with the game had become a mystery. She was not like Akira, who had learned the game since he was two and studied it daily. Her skill was something that should not exist and he was unable to understand how she was able to play with the intensity that she had.

It was two months after their first match at the salon before she told him about Sai. Her story, as outlandish at it sounded, was the missing piece of the puzzle that helped him solve the mystery that was Shindou Hikaru. Everything started to make sense after Hikaru told him about Sai: her intensity when she played go, her skill level, her familiarity with Shusaku, and the insistence she had about hiding her skill at go to everyone but him.

She looked quite relieved and happier around him after she confessed her secret. Hikaru told him about Sai because she thought it would be sad if he did not know of Sai's existence.

"Sai considers you as a rival and equal. He thinks very highly of you … I want you to feel the same for Sai himself. I want someone to acknowledge that Sai exists."

Touya could not help but find his affection for the girl grow after her confession. The girl was brash, selfish at times, and a bit rude. Overall though, she was a good child. She was fulfilling the wish of a ghost who was haunting her and allowing him with the opportunity to reach his own goal of achieving the hand of god with Sai.

He wondered what the young girl thought about go. She was witnessing some of the greatest games he had every played against someone whose skill was legendary. Though she had the front row seat in possibly witnessing the hand of god to come about, she was still a distance away.

Maybe, he could not help but think, rather than have Hikaru stand a distance away, that he and Sai could possibly bring her into this world as well? To share with her their passions and love for go.

He observed the girl who sat across the goban with him. She sat cross legged, still not use to the tradition sitting position usually adopted when sitting in front of the goban. Since she had told him the secret of Sai, she had taken the habit of speaking to Sai out loud in front of him.

"What do you think of go, Hikaru?" He asked her when her conversation with Sai seemed to be at a pause. She titled her head and looked at the titled go professional in surprised. Though he often spoke with Hikaru, the two rarely spoke about go.

"I'm not sure," Hikaru admitted to him. "I don't really know much about go – even after watching Sai and you play against one another week after week. I don't understand why pieces go where and how you guys know who had lost even before you reached yose."

"But … sometimes when you are playing Sai, it seems like you guys are building a universe. Each stone you place on the goban is like another star in the sky." Her words resonated with him. What she had seen in their go was something that many go professionals saw before they decided to turn professional. The fact that Hikaru had seen it was proof that she was meant to the play the game.

"Learn how to play go, Hikaru, and Sai and I will teach you how to build universes of your own."

There was a bit of hesitation in her after she heard his request. From the look of things, Sai must have been talking to her as well, most likely agreeing with him. The girl's gaze was shifted to the goban, then grasping the stones with her fingertips then letting them fall back into the container. Eventually, her gaze landed back to him.

"Okay." She agreed.

"We'll start with some life or death problems…"

Author's Note: Revised version of my first chapter. I sat down with my friend and actually figured out the plot of this story – I was very overwhelmed by the possibilities before hand. I also found a wonderful beta Torina to help me with my horrible spelling and grammar. Torina is also the moderator for the hikagofic community on livejournal that I'm apart of. The community is still growing and would love more members. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. A brand new chapter should be coming soon.

Beta's Note: Hey, TorinaArchelda from skyehawke here! Anna's written an awesome story here, and you should all review it! Feedback is truly what keeps an author going, and this story is a totally different take on the "Hikaru's a girl" storyline. I bet you can't wait to see when Hikaru meets Akira, because I can't either! So review and maybe you'll give her the motivation she needs to tell you! lol. We can't wait to read all your reviews! Thanks for reading!