Hey! Welcome to my first .hack fic. I didn't know Bear's name, so I christened him Sakamoto Nobu. I think, though, that Tsukasa's real name is Shouji An, so I'll use that. Also, this is set after .hack//SIGN, after Sora's woken up from his coma.

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Dedicated to Moonlight's Spell, Crystal17, and Valefor. Because they're all kick-ass Sora writers.

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No.

He would not cry. He would not scream in pain. He would not even whimper.

The sharp glass cut into his back, but he was too tired and heart-breakingly sore to move. His eyes flickered closed for a second, exhaustion threatening to plunge him into darkness. It would have been a welcome relief.

Another kick.

Too late for the last resolution, then. He might even have to break the last one too. That's how it certainly looked from the ten year old's point of view.

'How smart are you *now*, huh?' sneered a voice from above him. The boy flat on the floor forced himself to look up into his tormentor's eyes.

He didn't say anything, though. Because to answer would certainly be an invite for more pain, and because he wasn't sure if he could speak, anymore. Or if anything he said would be intelligible through the blood trickling down his mouth.

'See? Smarty-pants-Sora ain't got an answer this time 'round!' jeered another voice.

The boy that was Sora merely stared at him, trying not to let another pathetic whimper escape his betraying mouth.

A third youth reached down and hauled the pale, skinny boy up, pinning him by his shirt collar against the wall.

'See if we can break your nose, huh, genius?' he sneered, curling his knuckles into a rather vicious fist. Sora thought of pointing out to him that, considering they were only ten, he'd probably only fracture it.

However, a measure of common sense informed him this would *not* be a good idea. That and the fact that, fractured or broken, this would be extremely sore either way.

That was it. So much for pride. Sora's fingers closed around the bully's in a desperate scrabbling attempt to pull them off his collar.

Another whimper, this time sounding a good deal more terrified, escaped his throat. The taller, more solidly built boy laughed and gestured at the scared boy to his friends.

'Hah! Look at him! Weak little git.'

Sora's eyes darted from boy to boy, as one of them leant forward and gave him a hard punch on the shoulder.

'Pl-please,' he managed to stutter out. 'Leave me alone, *please*.'

Such weakness. Intolerable in others, excruciating in himself. He tried to beat the words back into his throat, but they spilled forth in a flooding stream of betraying consonants and vowels.

'Please, Sansuke, I'll do your homework… I'll do whatever you want! Please, just leave me alone!' he tried.

'Oh, really? You know what? I think this will be more fun-'

'Hey!'

A tall brown haired man stood in the narrow entrance to the alleyway.

'C'mon! Let's go!' Sansuke shouted, letting Sora go and running off with his two friends down the alley.

'Hey! You get back here!' the man shouted, moving rather swiftly to where Sora sat crumpled on the ground, breathing heavily.

'No… Leave them go,' he managed to stutter out, between gasps of air.

'Why? They should be punished for this, you know, there's no excuse for bullying. Besides, they'll only come after you again.'

'They're… They won't be caught… They're too good. Just leave it,' Sora said, wiping blood from his mouth with his sleeve

'Are you okay, kid?' The man asked.

'F… Fine,' the ten year old said, spitting out another mouthful of blood onto the ground.

'You don't look it,' the man said.

It was true. This kid was in a very bad state; certainly worse than the man had seen in a long time. Blood streamed freely from cuts along his legs, his face was scratched and bruised, green-black hair pasted to his forehead, crimson eyes still wide and dilated with fear.

'You'd better come back to my house. I can help you get fixed up, and you can call someone to pick you up.'

'No. I'm fine.'

It was useless, anyway. His parents were both a work, and both would be until about eight, later if one decided to work overtime, as happened occasionally. Besides, what was this man inferring? That he couldn't look after himself?

'It's only about five minutes from here. I could help you clean some of those cuts. They look pretty dirty.'

Sora could not help but agree as he rummaged in his school bag, pulling out a copy and promptly tearing a couple of pages out of a blank copy that looked like it was specially reserved for that purpose, judging by the few blood stains on it.

The man could not help marvelling at the rapidity and speed the boy tended to himself, wiping cuts and sticking them up as best he could. Some of them looked horrible, with the hem of his shorts stuck to one.

The man had seen the scars of those kind of wounds before, on An's arms.

'Yes?' the boy asked, his crimson eyes regarding the man narrowly, searching his face. 'Why are you staring? I'm fine.'

The man suddenly felt a flash of sorrow for this strange boy, who seemed to deny any help whatsoever.

'Are you sure?'

'I have to be back. Or else I'll be scolded,' the boy lied.

The man, who was also known as Bear in another place, felt a suddenly flash of recognition.

'Look at you. You're really badly cut up. You needn't stay more than five seconds. I can just help you clear some dirt out of those cuts – that one up by your temple looks nasty.'

Sora seemed to sway for a second. His eyes narrowed again as he looked at the man. He seemed to find it hard to grasp that anyone would want to help him.

'C'mon, kid. You can even just go on the computer or something – just let me help you,' Bear coaxed.

The boy twitched obviously at the mention of the computer.

'Uh… I don't know,' he said uncertainly.

'It'll be okay, don't worry,' Bear added. 'You can talk to my daughter, if you want.'

'Well… okay…' Sora said hesitantly. The he immediately cursed himself for agreeing. His lapses were not common, but everyone has a break-point, and if you're a beaten up, bloodied ten year old not used to adult concern and a fatherly man comes along and asks if you're all right…

Besides, the mention of a girl still had a certain pull for him – girls were generally nice to him. Except when his katars were around their neck, but even then they never ceased to amuse, running the gamut from shrieking to cursing to crying.

Bear stood up and pulled the heavily bleeding boy up with him, startling Sora from his thoughts.

Again, Bear had a flash of déjà vu. The boy's form – thin and lanky, with legs that seemed slightly too long for him – seemed to trigger a flash of recognition.

'Have I seen you before somewhere?'

'You might have. I won an award for recognition among talented youth awhile ago…'

'Really?' Bear asked. A tinge of pride crept into Sora's voice.

'Uh-huh. I was even up against a sixteen year old.'

'And you beat him? Well done!' Bear said, feeling the need to encourage this strange boy for some reason.

'Well… yeah…' Bear could have sworn that there was a faint colour rising in this boy's face – though it might just have been the blood. 'But… why do you care? It's none of your business,' Sora added.

'It's still great for you,' Bear said. 'Are you sure you don't need any help?'

'I'm fine, okay?' he snapped, wiping a trail of blood from his mouth.

'Yes, yes, sorry,' the man said hastily, not wanting to give the ten year old cause to go away. Strange as this boy was, Bear felt sorry for him – and he was not one to send a bleeding, beaten kid away.

There was silence for a few seconds. Sora privately wondered why this man didn't just go. He wouldn't have gone with him, not normally. But he was sick of resisting. Resisting those boys was a bad move, look at what had happened. Maybe this was a nice adult, who'd pay some attention to him. He cursed himself mentally for telling this man about his academic achievements. Now this guy would just like him for that. If at all.

Bear, on the other hand, was worrying about this boy. He seemed like An, just a little – shying away from any kind of affection. Still, he had just been rather savagely attacked. Maybe he was just feeling a little wary.

'Here,' Bear said. 'We're here.'

Sora looked up, fighting the impulse to just leave this guy. Maybe he was just some weirdo out to find kids. There were some sickos around, nowadays, and he didn't like the look of the man's haircut. Very suspicious. No one sane would have that kind of hair.

'An. An, would you let me up?' the man spoke into an intercom.

'Sure, Nobu. Hang on a sec.'

Soon, they were standing in a rather roomy apartment, with An facing them. A tall girl with a smiling, strangely familiar face, short brown hair and a shy manner, who regarded Sora curiously.

'Are you okay?' she asked.

'Never better. Fine. Couldn't complain. Wouldn't want to,' Sora said, still taking in the apartment.

'Very funny. I'll go get some tissues, shall I, Nobu?' the girl asked, heading into the bathroom and pulling out a roll of paper. She then handed it to Sora.

'You're probably going to need to clean them all off,' she said, while Bear fetched some disinfectant. 'How did that happen, anyway? Who are you?'

'I…' Sora decided to tell her what had happened, to distract her from his name. 'I was beaten up. By… uh, by five, no, six guys from my school! Really big ones,' he added, just in case she still wasn't impressed. 'I still managed to hurt two of 'em.'

'Really,' the girl said, smiling to herself.

'Yes, really,' Sora said, annoyed.

'Here,' Bear said, setting down a bottle of iodine in front of him. 'I guess you want to do it yourself?'

Sora merely picked the bottle up and headed for the bathroom.

'Strange kid,' An said. 'He was beaten up?'

'Yeah. Three other boys-'

'Six!'

'… Sorry, *six* boys,' Bear said, winking at An. He leant in closer and whispered,

'Was there something strange about him to you?'

'I don't know… It felt like I knew him from somewhere,' An said.

'I think there's something unusual about him, though. Like… he's not used to being looked after… You saw the looks he was giving us, like he was trying to let us know that he didn't want our help or something…'

'I know. Definitely something a bit strange.'

'Just like you?' Bear asked. 'You think there's something awry with his family?'

'I don't know… I think he's used to being ignored or something… 'Cause he wasn't really trying to… I don't know, avoid us or anything, he just didn't seem to want any help.'

'I don't think it's very normal for a ten year old to be that independent, though,' Bear said, as Sora came out of the bathroom, carrying a handful of toilet paper smeared red. His other hand, with long pale typist's fingers, was stuck to a cut on his forehead.

'Okay there, kid?' Bear asked.

'I'm not a kid,' Sora countered. 'I need a plaster for this one, it won't stop bleeding. The others are fine, though. Only little.'

'Only little? You're covered in them!'

'I said I'm fine. Where's your plaster?'

Soon Sora's face was adorned with sticking plaster and he sat at the kitchen counter, picking at his fingernails, nursing a can of soda and looking at the two. He had relaxed slightly, venturing to offer a couple of words every now and then in the general conversation.

'Have I seen you before?' he asked suddenly, looking narrowly at An.

'I don't think so… Maybe…' An said, racking her brains. Suddenly there was a loud beep from a room.

'An, did you leave the computer on?' Bear asked.

'Yeah… Sorry, Nobu, I was playing The World and I didn't get enough time to shut it off.'

'And you're okay with that? Playing?'

'No, not really… But it's really the only way to talk with Mimiru and Crim, 'cause they live really far away. Plus, Subaru likes to use her legs in The World,' An said, fiddling with her soda.

'Are you okay?' Bear asked the ten year old.

Sora had suddenly stiffened, looking even more wary, crimson eyes darting from one person to the next.

'Yes… Look at the time,' he said hastily, gesturing at his watch vaguely. 'I have to go… Mama'll be expecting me soon. Goodbye.'

He got up quickly, heading for the door. Just as he was about to go out, Bear recalled something.

'You told me your parents were working!'

Sora bent over, picked up his bag and walked out, leaning his head back in.

'They are.'

'So… Why are you going?'

'Because…' Sora swallowed, seeming to make up his mind.

'Tsukasa-kun… Let's be friends,' he said softly, fleeing from the room.

An gasped, as her mind suddenly placed the person, using this clue. It was the eyes… In The World your eyes could betray you. The same bloodied eyes.

'Sora?'