Full Summary: AU. Hikaru never entered the professional Go world, opting instead to placate Sai with NetGo and disguising himself when visiting various Go Salons. After Sai's disappearance his love for Go diminished until Akari coerced him into playing in the school's Go Club, where he discovered Sai in his Go and therefore relearned his love for it. Years pass by and now Hikaru is a normal office employee going about his daily life until…

Nostalgia

He walked along silently down the waterlogged streets, shoes splashing in the puddles scattered along the ground and raindrops soaking into his suit. He sighed, eyes searching for a dry store to wait in, hopefully a ramen stand. After all, a bowl or few of ramen was always welcome to him.

"No! That was a great move," cried the voice of a young boy, cutting Hikaru out of his melancholic thoughts. "You're just not good enough to see it!"

"Not good enough?!" another voice cried out, "And who beat who that last time?"

Hikaru smiled nostalgically as he looked towards the two boys in the Go salon screaming at each other. Taking a minute, he decided to enter the salon 'just to take a peek' he assured himself.

The jingling of a bell sounded his entrance to the small shop. A girl at the counter greeted him cheerfully, asking if he was there to play. Hikaru shook his head and politely refused, explaining his desire to just stay there and wait out the rain. The girl nodded back at him and gestured into the shop for him to look around if he was interested. He thanked her before wandering off towards where the still arguing boys were.

They must not have noticed his presence judging by how they kept quibbling with the other. He stopped and looked at the game on the goban, then whistled. It seemed that the two players were pretty evenly matched, but that wasn't what took his notice. It was the level the two seemed to have played at, they definitely weren't mere amateurs.

"That move at 15-7 was pretty well placed," Hikaru commented lightly, shaking the two boys out of their frustration. "It solidifies the territorial dispute very well, making for an excellent defense."

Dismissing his comment, the red-haired boy to Hikaru's let suddenly spoke up. "Who are you?"

"Shindo Hikaru, just a random passerby," he introduced himself.

"Oh, you know how to play Go mister?" the other boy asked, eyes shining in excitement.

"I do dabble in it from time to time," Hikaru answered vaguely, a mysterious smile on his face.

"Oh." The boys' faces fell a bit, he noticed belatedly.

"But I used to be pretty proficient at it," he added hastily, smiling encouragingly at them as if to make his point.

"We're insei mister Shindo," answered the blue-haired boy.

"Play a game with us and we'll see how strong you are," the red-haired boy challenged quite boisterously.

Hikaru looked in dissension with himself at the probe to his pride. He stared at the two anticipating faces of the boys, sighed and gave in to them. "Alright, but just one game boys," he relented before going over to the counter and paid the adults' fee. He then walked back to the table and sat down across from the red-haired boy. The boy looked extremely eager as he pulled out a handful of stones and placed his hand on the board. "Nigiri!"

Hikaru took out one stone from his own goke and placed it on the board, waiting for the boy to count the stones in his hand. It was odd numbered. The stones were quickly swept back into the goke.

"Onegaishimasu," both players intoned and bowed to the other before sitting straight back up.

As his eyes focused on the goban, Hikaru's eyes sharpened as his hand reached into the goke, picking up a stone and rolling it between his middle and fore-fingers.

Pa-chi!

The first stone was set.

Fin?