A/N: This is a prototype for a fic I've had in my head for a while, it'll also be my first fic released on this site and the first one to be released on the net since the disaster that happened around 5 years ago (when I was a crazy Riku [Kingdom Hearts] fangirl)

Sadly I need to pick up my Redemption copy and make a new file so I could make sure that I have all the technology names correct, but if anyone is willing to help, that'll be very great. The .hack wiki also says that Kaoru lives with his parents (or at least on the wiki it does) but since they're never mentioned I assumed he lived alone, sorry!

One last note, like I said up top, I'm not very sure where I'm going with this or if there's going to be any pairings, the main cast from the games won't make so many appearances except for Endrance, Silabus, Gaspard, and possibly Haseo and Sakubo. Well anyways here's the test drive!!!

Quiet knocking was heard through the room, a young man was sitting while facing a computer screen, he was wearing a plain white shirt and sweat pants, on his head was a headset on, reading "ALTIMIT MINE OS" on the sides. He paid no mind to the knocking that disturbed the silence in the room, but after a few knocks they stopped and a muffled voice sounded through the door:

"Kaoru, I'm coming in"

The door slowly opened, pushing the multiple empty bags of eaten food and empty can of drinks littered on the floor to the side. A young girl looking no more than 15 walked in, she was also dressed plainly, but her shirt had several black stripes and she was wearing a cream colored skirt.

"Nii-san, I brought the thing you asked for" she said quietly while her brother simply turned to the side and brought out his arm, waiting for the item he requested. The girl made her way through the messy room, not caring about the bags that she stepped on but moving the cans so she wouldn't trip and took out a box labeled "THE WORLD R:2" in bold, gold letters and placed it in his hand. Instantly the boy turned back again and opened the box quickly, ignoring the booklets that fell out and bounced off the table to join the litter on the floor and when a case came out he caught it carefully and removed the cd, inserting it into the drive.

The girl just watched silently and stepped quietly back to the door in order to leave while saying "I hope you won't mind, but I bought two copies". After waiting for a reply she knew wouldn't come she continued "Dinner will be ready around 7 and I'm going to clean afterwards. Also, mother wants you to go to school at least once next week, she's starting to get phone calls again" This time all she received was a nod before she closed the door and made her was to her room on the other side of the hallway.

People have always thought that I hated The World, to tell the truth I don't, I just dislike it. People think I hate it because it's so popular that it absorbed so many people into that alternate world in which so many events can unfold. I dislike it because my brother is one of those people. I still remember when we would walk together to school, he would often give me piggy backs and i would sometimes pull on his hair if his speed wasn't fitting to my needs, his hair was actually a lot neater back then. After school we would go to the park and he would push me on the swings while hearing me talk about all the events that happened, and then he would join me and talk about how he had to avoid all the girls in his class, even some of the upperclassmen. He was always popular with the females, but their personalities never could match his. I don't think he knew this, but those days were my favorite.

Then, it came out.

The World, the MMORPG that everyone wanted to play, to try to live out a new adventure, maybe to ascend the ranks and attempt to join the Crimson Knights, maybe even the Azure Knights or they wanted to attain all the great treasures that laid in treasure chests at the end of a dungeon. Some just wanted to talk to millions of people that had already joined and make new connections. At first me and my brother paid no mind, we would ignore the ads on the walls of buildings and the chatter of out classmates, then one of my brother's fangirls gave a copy to him as a invitation to a date. When we came home, our mother saw the package and told him it would be rude to object her after she wasted her money on it, so my brother went to his room and inserted the disk into the computer.

It was shortly after that when he started leaving me. At first it wasn't really noticeable, instead of spending a bit of time at the park like we used to we would talk on the way home. I still talked about the same things, classmates' endless chatter, a new quiz coming up, or occasionally someone with enough bravery to declare that they didn't get the point of The World. But the things he talked about changed. Instead of school he would talk about the dungeons he would go to with his only friend in the game, trying to find this kind of item that apparently was worthless but it made his friend happy so he would go along.

I don't remember much then, but I remember a few times mother would ask me to go tell him that dinner was ready, or to see if he had done his homework. His grades in school were slowly decreasing, and mother would worry, dad would still be too busy at work to care so much. And when i would go into his room he was always facing the screen, his fingers on the control while he would speak to his friend, I think her name was Mia. Occasionally I would get to peek at the screen and I would see a young boy dressed in robes with a staff and this taller creature that looked like a mix of a bunny and a cat, she was purple too, but then brother would notice me and ask what I needed. It went on like this for several months and then something happened that completely tore us apart.

Pluto Again happened

I don't know what exactly happened, but it resulted in the loss of Mia in The World. And me in my brother's world.

Shortly after that a accident happened in the CCorp building that resulted in The World to shut down, but now R:2 is out.

And I won't let them take him again.

A/N:Wow, the 2nd half (the recap of the series) sounds really angsty and whinny to me, but in a way I can sort of see where she's coming from. Well I hope that anyone who read this enjoyed it but i do have to remind people that this is only the test before I can see if I really can go anywhere with this!!!