Date written:
July 14th 2009

First time trying to portray one of my favorites from the .hack// franchise, Tsukasa. Of course he's one of my favorites, being from the classic era. I hope I did okay..?

"Tsukasa?"

The gray-haired boy opened one eye at the voice, looking around the empty field before opening both eyes and craning his neck to look upwards. Sure enough, there she was, leaning down off the branch of the dead tree he'd been propped against, short and shaggy light red hair hanging about her face. Upon the eyes setting on her, she jumped down to land beside him, red and white uniform's buttons jingling.

"Sorry if I woke you, Tsukasa." She apologized, sitting beside him on the damp ground.

"Not a good rest anyway." The boy responded dully, turning his head to look off towards the wasteland in the other direction.

"I imagine so. The ground looks like it's pretty hard. Is it?" A numb nod met her question. "We could find you a more comfortable place to rest, you know."

"It's not really about that."

"Oh? The alone factor, then?" Another nod. "Not many people like these kinds of fields. I understand."

"Don't talk so much."

The female player gave a kind of cross between a sigh of contentment and frustration. "Just saying."

"Well don't."

A sound of amusement left her throat as she complied to his wishes, pulling her legs up. 'Eventually.' She reminded herself, silently humming a familiar tune in her mind.

As predicted, the Wavemaster stood some time later with the tell-tale intentions of gating out. "Where to?" She asked him before he could depart.

"To be alone."

"Tsukasa…" She scolded lightly, "You shouldn't wander off too far, you know."

"I'm fine by myself."

"You know you aren't."

This made the boy pause and tense. "I'm fine." He shot back flatly before the runed rings surrounded him, signaling his absence.

Schön sighed, shoulders dropping. Just when it was looking like things were getting better between the two of them, it had to be proven false. "Really not doing my job right, am I."

Taking the headset off, Kate Mabelle set the active laptop on the table beside her. If she was right, she had enough time to sulk a bit. So sulk she did. Leaning over the bedside, she let out a heavy sigh as she brushed away a few strands of hair from the face of the brunette girl laying in an uncounted rest attached to life support.

"Vorbei.." She whispered, "You really gave me quite the job…" She took the girl's unadorned hand into her own, stroking it softly. "If only you were this peaceful in The World, An." Smiling bitterly, Kate put the headset back on, returning her eyes to Schön's.

Gating out and into the Delta root town, she immediately checked a custom tracker, following its instructions to the cathedral. As predicted, brown robes disappeared into the doors just as she arrived. She gave silent chase.

Upon arrival through the doors, the Wavemaster was already sitting on one of the front pews, eyes staring at nothing in the general direction of the empty pedestal. He called out to her before she could take a step. "Why do you insist on following me?"

Striding forward, Schön took a seat on the same pew a comfortable distance away. "Is it that bad?"

"Yes. It's weird."

"'Weird', huh.." Still keeping a smile, she chuckled. "It is. Though, I'm still not going to stop."

"Why, though?" Sitting up straight, Tsukasa shook his head. "Everywhere.. even places those useless knights can't go or track me… Not 'how', but 'why bother'?"

"I want to. Is that not enough?"

"No! It's selfish!" Standing up abruptly, the brown-robed boy glared at her. "Are you just trying to appease your curiosity or something else? Treating me like a sample? Hell, are you working on their side?"

Looking up to meet his stare, the redhead's expression fled. "I'm looking for no-one but you, Tsukasa. I'm looking out for no-one but you."

"You liar." He spat, looking as if she'd just attacked him. "No one here is looking out for my sake. Everything in their actions is only for themselves, and you're no different." Expression turning more sour after each word, he continued. "Don't think I haven't noticed how you treat me. Like I'm your child or something. So what happened? Did you lose a child in the past? Did you not like your mother, so think this will be compensation?"

Shifting her gaze downwards, the red-and-white clad woman's mouth turned to a frown. "I'm sorry your life has taught you to think that way, Tsukasa. I already knew it wasn't the best life, but… to reject me this far."

The headset was shed again, freezing her character in place though the microphone was still active and volume high enough to hear the boyish voice clearly. Kate traced a lingering bruise along An's chin lightly. "Perhaps it is selfish of me, if you're to put it like that. What am I doing here, trying to be friendly with you? Surely I just want something in return, even if it's only self-satisfaction, right?"

She didn't need the viser to tell Tsukasa was scowling. "So what if that's what I want, though? Self-satisfaction from helping you? No, that's right.. you wouldn't want it done for that reason, right?" While her character remained frowning, Kate began to smile as she placed a warm hand on the cold and slightly bruised cheek. "But then, aren't you playing the foolish selfless role? Pointing out that people are selfish… that gives some kind of self-gratification, which in turn makes you selfish. Me pointing that out makes me selfish, and you who would have pointed that itself out would have been selfish. It's all an endless loop." She softly stroked her thumb under an equally bruised eye.

In The World, Tsukasa backed away a few steps, expression set to more a hopeless frustration with his staff held against his chest. He could tell she wasn't wearing the headset– was somewhere else. It bothered him. What was she doing? "Stop. I don't need a replacement like you.."

Kate's eyes started to water though she kept her voice straight and soft. "I never said anything about replacing anyone."

Schön's eyes suddenly came back to life, locking onto the Wavemaster softly. That small voice muttered almost silently a prayer to his mother. "What do you want from me.." He murmured, head bowing as he leaned over himself.

Having stood up, Schön was in front of him, hands placed on his shoulders in a gentle manner. "Just take a look at me." At the small request, Tsukasa opened his eyes and unfolded himself to look up at the Long-Arm's face. "I'm bare, am I not? I'm offering all I have to you. Anything about me you want to know, anything you want me to do for you. The only thing I won't do is leave. For as much as you long to be alone, it's the last thing you need, Tsukasa." Smiling down at those purple eyes, Schön read into everything they displayed, noticing for another time that no matter how much he tried to hide from people, it all came spilling out from his eyes. "All I want from you is to be as bare as I am. Be as truthful and patient."

Without waiting for a response, she removed her hands from Tsukasa's shoulders and wrapped her arms around him in an embrace that went both unrejected and unreturned. Though Schön couldn't feel the small tears that fell to the front of her shirt, Kate could very well feel the tears that she gently wiped from An's face.

I'd just like to set straight Kate's role and note Vorbei for those who haven't read the original version on the website. Vorbei is another vagrant A.I. who takes things into her own hands. One thing she decided to do was send a physical guardian for Tsukasa. She chose Kate, a woman from the US, to keep watch over An's body in the real world and provide what support she could in The World.

Again, I hope I didn't do too poorly portraying Tsukasa. I always have the hardest times with my favorites since I get nervous and feel like I should do better than that if they're so high-standing to me.