Hikago love

[shinra_lackey]

Always assume there are spoilers for Hikago recs, especially for volume 15 and beyond for the manga and whatever episode it corresponds to in the anime.

Conversations Over a Go Board by smuga (series, complete, AkiHika)
Chosei by aishuu (oneshot, gen)
Skipping Stones by issen4 (oneshot, gen)
Finding Sai by issen4 (series, complete, gen)
My Stranger, My Son by betulaleafminer (oneshot, gen)
crystalkey's Hikago artwork Lovely stuff, so maybe one of you will have more courage than me and tell him/her.

Conversations Over a Go Board by smuga (series, complete, AkiHika) Akari asks Hikaru to help tutor at their junior high school festival and Touya Akira agrees to help too. The series goes from there with wonderful interaction between the Hikaru no Go cast. I love smuga's dialog and how she incorporates different elements of the Hikago universe: the insei, the go club, and even the Kaio go tournament while still portraying the central theme of the fic: relationships. I should have recommended this story ages ago, and I am ashamed that poor organization pushed it back to now.

One of my favorite parts was,
"Kaga-sempai!" Said Akari, not believing her eyes.

The redheaded former Shougi captain gave her a devious grin, and turned back to Jiro. "That Tsutsui, he was a nerdy runt, just like you, kid. But he had balls, and he didn't stand around moping. You want a go team kid? Go out there and earn yourself one."

Chosei by aishuu (oneshot, gen) A conversation between Hikaru and Akira on what it means to play go. You all are probably sick of me recommending Aishuu'd stuff by now and have most likely have all of her Hikago fics already. Well too bad, I haven't recced Chosei yet, so now everyone has an excuse to go reread it. Nyah~~

Skipping Stones by issen4 (oneshot, gen) Hikaru and Touya meet Touya's old Kaio team mates at a local bookstore. Sparks fly. Bwahaha, this fic kills me. You all remember the part in the manga where Touya plays his three sempai in a game of blind go? Well this is their comeuppance. Nicely written and the concept is just too funny.

Finding Sai by issen4 (series, complete, gen) Summary: Loss and found are the themes of Hikaru's life. I'm a sad, sad fangirl when I find Luce's summaries fun to quote and consider them better than anything I could put up, right? A wonderful series full of suspense and interesting plot twists. I remember when I was reading this as a work in progress and I was so happy when each new part came out. Told from an interesting style: each part is a subsequent day backwards, this fanfic sort of reminds me of the movie Memento and how even though you know how it ends, you're sucked in by each new fact you learn. Plus I fangirl Luce madly (almost as much as I fangirl aishuu), so you know it's gonna be good.

My Stranger, My Son by betulaleafminer (oneshot, gen) Hikaru's father drags his son to one of his business meetings. Go happens. No really, that was just me trying to be funny. What this story does, is portray Hikaru from a perspective that you don't see to often if at all, his father's. I love when an author can get into the head of a minor character, in this case a non-existent one in canon and flesh that person out bringing it all back to the star of the show, Hikaru. I even liked how betulaleafminer handled the coworkers for Hikaru's father.

Hikaru even managed to convince his grandfather to buy him a goban - not a top of the line one, but not a cheap folding one either. I was angry with him for that, as I thought it too much for a boy whose interest would probably wane once he found a new video game he liked, or a sport he wanted to play, or girls he wanted to chase, or anything more normal for a teenager than go. When I confronted my father about indulging Hikaru's whims - which he did semi-regularly when Hikaru's allowance was cut - he was completely unrepentant.

"It's different this time, Masao. Hikaru has a great deal of potential. I couldn't, in good conscience, not give it to him." Was all he would say on the subject.

crystalkey's Hikago artwork Lovely stuff, so maybe one of you will have more courage than me and tell him/her.


WiP Update
sic transit gloria mundi Letter 20 by Abaddon _furorbelli_ and decerto (HP)
Hold Me. Thrill Me. Kiss Me. Kill Me. 13/? by amejisuto (BtVS, Spike/Xander)