Author's Note: Wrote this for firedragyon97 .

Disclaimer: I don't own Hikaru no Go.

Leaving

by SVZ

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When he left Hikaru, he didn't know what to think or to feel. When he tried to warn the boy, nothing came out. His voice couldn't alert him. He saw himself slowly disappear.

The hems of his robes melted and it progressed higher. There was no pain, no feeling- How could there be? He was already dead-there only the certainty that Kami-sama had decided his time was up. He was given over a thousand years to achieve his life-long goal, and he still hadn't reached the Hand of God. He still hadn't manage to play The Divine Move after all this time, not through Torajiro… and Hikaru never really did give him a chance to play Go.

Maybe he had been foolish to think that he would have been able to accomplish his wish. Maybe it hadn't been intended to be a blessing, but really a punishment in disguise. He didn't have a physical body. He was only a ghost, he couldn't pick up stones and play hands. He was able to play through Torajiro by directing hands, but not actually hold the go stones; not being able to feel the glass go stones between his thumb and index finger. With Hikaru, it wasn't any better.

While tears streamed down his face, he knew at last why his time had ended. He just wasn't meant to reach the Hand of God, the higher powers had already decided who was worthy. His throat felt tight because he already knew who would be able to accomplish what he couldn't. It was his name that he tried to call out.

The blissfully unaware teen stirred in his sleep, his breathing steady and his thoughts thousands of miles away. Shindou Hikaru couldn't feel the slightly cool breeze circulate through his room.

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