Disclaimer: I don't own .hack. If I did, I'd own much more than what I do. Well, at least I think so…

Author notes: No, I didn't stop being lazy. I just got so bored, I did this over the coarse of several months.

Well, now the respond to reviews from Wandering, starting with Nox-Magi.

Nox-Magi: Congrats! You guessed correctly on all accounts, including Crim rather than SK. SK works in a video store, after all.

Shinji Ikari (aka Lacan Panother aka Paul): Wow, you've got a lot of names. How do you remember them all. :) More on subject, in a sense Wandering was just a one-shot in a little series of one-shots in my head. I have no plans of continuing Wandering, though I may go back and fix the errors I've seen in it. Sorry, but no continuing of my first fic. However, I hope you enjoy these other one-shots

Jonathan Priest: Special thanks to you for telling me what I did right, and then turning around to kick me about what I did wrong. Maybe I'm embellishing on it a bit, but you're the only one who really told me what was wrong, in your opinion. About not making a strong connection in their discussion on 'The World', that was one of the harder parts for me. I suppose I could have increased that a little more, but I was trying to make it more along the lines of small talk than making a connection. I didn't think Kite would give enough information to bring others into the conflict unless he had to, so I tried to make him just talk about his companions. On the other hand, I tried to keep Bear and Tsukasa from revealing anything about their adventure, even though Kite wouldn't know much about it. Your comment on the ending, however, is well received. I agree with your assessment, and if I ever get around to it, I'll change that part. Thanks, and thanks again.

Final thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. If I didn't respond to your review, it was either because someone else has already asked your questions, or because all I can do is say thanks. Thanks, and sorry if you feel left out.

And now, let the curtain rise!

Hot Chocolate

Breathing hard, Akira silently cursed herself for not heeding the weather report for that afternoon. It had seemed so improbable to her, that the threatening cold front would occur this late in the springtime. The weather had been rather warm lately, she remembered, and the thought of going to tennis practice all wrapped up would have made her feel too hot… So, after being able to ignore the chill in the air while running around on the court, she now felt the effects of the unseasonable chill on her sweaty body.

Her mother had just called to let her know she would be up to half an hour late, which left Akira two choices. She could either walk home, and feel the full effects of the cold while dressed in tennis shorts and shirt, or wait the extra time in the school by the tennis court. Feeling the unseasonably cold weather eat at her already, she made the choice to stay quite easily.

Waving off her friends, Akira went inside the school. After greeting one of the ever-present janitors, she started walking to the main entrance towards the front of the school where her mother would drive by. Glancing at one the many trophy cases that lined the hall, and a bit smugly noticing very few tennis trophies since when she had started playing for her school, she didn't notice anything else until it was too late.

"Whoa!"

The surprised cry from the other figure echoed Akira's own outburst, and both went down onto their rears. Shaking her head to refocus herself, Akira saw several books strewn around on the floor. Raising her head to see whom she had run into, she took in what she saw.

The person who she bumped into was a teenage girl like herself. However, any obvious similarities ended there. Where Akira was tall, muscular and slightly tanned from being in the sun while playing tennis, the other girl was shorter and lacked any obvious muscle tone. She appeared one or two years Akira's junior, and wore a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt. On the top of her nose were placed a pair of thick glasses, giving her the appearance of a young librarian or clerk. The impression didn't seem too unlikely, due to size of the books dropped.

One of them, a copy of "The Lord of the Rings", was closest to her. Grabbing it as she stood up, she walked over to the other girl and held it out. "Here, I think this belongs to you, right?"

The other girl snapped out of her daze, took the book from Akira's hands with a "Thank you," and then stood up with the help of Akira's proffered hand. After smoothing out the wrinkles on her shirt, the she then quickly turned and bowed her head in apology to Akira.

"I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" The words were spoken with such a tone that Akira knew immediately that the other girl was already accepting all the blame of the collision. Not feeling comfortable for someone else accepting the blame for something that was mainly her fault, Akira spoke.

"Nah, don't worry. It was my fault. Name's Akira Hayami, who are you?"

The other girl, visibly relieved that Akira wasn't annoyed with her, answered the question with little hesitance. "I'm Natsume, Natsume Ohguru. Aren't you the rising star for that high school tennis team?"

Preening slightly, while wondering where she had heard that name before, Akira grinned. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Our tennis courts are getting repaired, so we had our practice today at the public court next door. My ride home is going to be a bit late, so I'm waiting out here to stay out of the cold. Why are you here?"

Natsume swept out her arm, showing the books that still lay on the floor. "I'm a member of the school's book club, and we just received a new order of books. So, I'm carrying in the new books to the teacher's lounge."

Taking a look at the many books scattered on the floor, Akira raised an eyebrow, "And you're doing this all by yourself?"

Having turned to start picking up the fallen books, Natsume just offered a small shrug. "It needed to be done, and I had some spare time."

Seeing the young librarian struggle while trying to pick up the scattered books, Akira kneeled down and started to pick up the books as well. Seeing her efforts to help, Natsume thanked her. After picking up the last book, Natsume started walking with Akira following, and led her to the school's library, when she turned her head and restarted the conversation.

"So Akira, how long are you going to have to wait for your ride?"

"About half an hour. Why?"

"It must have been cold out there, and I can give you some of the hot chocolate I'm heating in the teacher's lounge, if you have some time. Would you like some?"

Still feeling the effects of the cold on her body, Akira accepted the offer so empathetically that she could have sworn that the young librarian had almost giggled at her. Almost.

Coughing to regain her composure, and quietly thanking fate that none of her friends had seen her do that, she decided to steer the conversation away from herself. Quickly looking for a new topic, Akira brainstormed for ideas to talk about as the silence became to feel uncomfortable. Choosing one, she broke the silence.

"So, Natsume, you go online much?"

The other girl started slightly, apparently caught off guard by the question. Then, when she turned her head slightly and gave a sweet smile, Akira knew she had asked the right question.

"Yes, actually. I have several friends online. In fact…" As soon as she had begun, she trailed off as she nudged open a door with her side and entered. "This is the teacher's lounge. Just put the books down on the table and take a seat in one of the chairs, and I'll get the hot chocolate."

Following the directions given, Akira settled into a chair by a table, and waited for Natsume to continue where she had left off. As she came over with the hot cups filled with the dark beverage, Natsume handed one of the cups to Akira, who held the cup close to her mouth while shaking the last bits of chill from her bones. Seeing her receptive audience, Natsume sat down and spoke, a slight smile still on her face.

"As I was saying, I've made a few friends online. You've heard of the online game 'The World'?" When Akira just stared a Natsume, the young librarian shook her head. "Never mind. Who hasn't? Well, I started it just recently under my real name, and almost immediately got stuck."

Something clicked, and Akira gave an unnoticed gasp. That was where she had heard the name before! Kite had introduced her to a fellow twinblade newbie when they'd gone a few random dungeon trips, but she hadn't given it much thought at the time. Still, should she let Natsume know who she was?

The girl in question continued on, unaware of the stir she had just made. "In my first week, I was trying to get this rare weapon for my character, but couldn't get any farther than the entrance of the dungeon. I got scared by a couple of weak goblins!"

Natsume laughed at her own admission, but Akira remembered her own first battle. She had totally freaked, and had had to be saved by that annoying, strange, and awfully dressed twinblade she called her partner. Still, Natsume's story was getting interesting, so the only response she made was a soft "go on."

"And so, here I am, standing at the entrance of the dungeon, when this red twinblade appeared." This time, Natsume did notice Akira's look of surprise, but put it off to something else. "Yeah, that surprised me to, since I thought twinblades didn't come in the color red, but he got it when he," at this, she started looking for an answer, "err… I actually don't know how, I'll have to ask him some time. So, he saw me and asked me what I was doing in that dungeon. When I told him about what had happened to me, he nodded and went into the dungeon."

Akira nodded at this. Knowing her partner, she could guess what was coming up next. To keep up the act of not knowing anything about it, however, she urged Natsume on by asking about what happened next.

At this, Natsume beamed. "Well then, a few minutes later, just as I was about to give up, he came straggling up into the main room. He had done the dungeon alone, and had been torn up by the monsters, but the first thing he did was come up to me. And then, before he had even fully healed himself, he gave the rare blades to me. Just gave them! No trade, no conditions, just a gift. It was so nice of him!"

At this point, Akira noticed a faint blush on the other girl's cheeks. So, she thought, Natsume was infatuated with Kite? Still, she thought as she squashed down an irrational feeling of anger, it was rather sweet of him to do it. Then again, that's how he's always been.

Neither girl seemed to notice the slight pause that had taken hold in the conversation, but when the conversation picked up again the two traded stories of their own amusing adventures in the game as time continued to pass. Akira told of the time she was confused by an enemy and chased her partner across half a field, swinging her sword wildly, until the effects ran out, to which Natsume told a story about how a female wavemaster had worked so hard to get to the bottom of a dungeon, with terrible luck and many laughs by her party along the way, only to have to logout to take care of dinner, forgetting to get the dungeon's final treasure. After relating one particularly amusing tale involving the 'red twinblade' (the two, by unvoiced agreement, gave no names, though Akira knew who everyone was), a green fool, and the red twinblade's new noble grunty, Natsume made a passing comment that caught Akira's attention.

As the two wiped tears from their eyes, Natsume leaned back in her chair and raised her head so that she was looking at the ceiling. Akira, who was still thinking of all the ways she could blackmail her partner with this story, almost missed what Natsume said next.

"But still, there's this one girl I met who I really admire. She's so strong, and I wish I could be more like her."

Akira, who was cautiously sipping her hot chocolate, nodded. Natsume was probably talking about the long arm Gardenia. She'd seen the fan club Gardenia had accumulated, and supposed that Natsume could be another one of those people who admired the strong and silent types. As deep as she was in her musings, she still listened as Natsume kept speaking.

"She's rather aggressive, and yells a lot in battle," Natsume began, throwing out Akira's previous assumption. Gardenia NEVER yelled, when she decided to talk at all. But if it wasn't Gardenia, then it must be… "But she's always reliable and so strong. She has great self confidence, and that's what I wish I could be like."

With the compliments being heaped upon her, Akira felt a bit uncomfortable. Sure, as an older sister she liked to feel she was someone to look up to, but to actually have someone tell her, even if they didn't realize it, that they wanted to be like her was a bit embarrassing. Even as she listened, Natsume kept pointing out Blackrose's strengths and her own weakness. Time to change tracks slightly, Akirae decided.

"She sounds like a good person," Akira began. She had an ego, so what? "But I'm sure you have some strengths that she doesn't. She has to have some flaws, right?"

Natsume nodded, but the look in her eyes made it obvious that she didn't truly believe it, so Akira pressed on. "I might not know you that well, but you're caring and compassionate, and you want to improve yourself. That's a mark of a good person, right?" Please don't let her be an incredibly depressed person, Akira prayed. That could make things get ugly.

However, her fears were unjustified, proven when Natsume tried to smile. It wasn't a bright smile, like when she had been talking about "The World", but it was a smile none the less. "I feel kind of weak talking about stuff like with other people, so sorry if I'm bothering you."

The 'stuff', Akira knew, was Natsume's own problems with self-confidence. By now, she decided she was going to help Natsume accomplish her goals. Who knows, it might be big sister instincts, or something else entirely, but part of Akira just wanted to help.

"Don't feel weak," Akira replied, "there's nothing to apologize about. You just had to talk about it to someone, right? You got to have more confidence in yourself, that's all. In fact…" Theatrics kicked in, mixing with her pep talk, and she jumped to her feet. Looking down to see if the other girl had gotten the message or if she should continue, she was surprised to see not the serious eyes of attention that she was expecting, but laughing eyes devoid of all the seriousness they had held a minute ago. Puzzled, she looked down and realized what had happened. When she had jumped up at the end of her motivational speech, her now cool hot chocolate which she had been holding had jumped onto her small shirt staining it brown. Glaring at the offending stain, she let out an exasperated "that's just great".

This seemed to set off Natsume again, and this time she didn't restrain her giggles. "I'm sorry, but it's just that you seemed so serious, like that girl I told you about, and then when you jumped up…" Here, Natsume stifled down a giggle and reached over and handed Akira a paper towel to clean up with. As Akira did said action, Natsume was about to speak again when suddenly Akira's cell phone went off. Blinking in surprise, Akira flipped it open and put it to her ear.

"Hello? Oh, mother… You are? Alright… No, I found someone to talk to pass the time. I'll be out there in a few minutes. Later, bye." Turning her head to Natsume, she explained the conversation. "Looks like my mother just arrived to pick me up, so I got to go now. It was nice talking to you, and thanks for the hot chocolate."

"Not a problem at all. Thank you for your help with those books." Natsume said, returning the farewell. "I hope we can meet up and talk again some time," Natsume said as Akira walked towards the door, meaning every word of it even though she knew they would probably never meet again.

Akira, who was turning into the hall, leaned back to give a final wave and a "Count on it" before vanishing and leaving the young librarian slightly confused.

"But I didn't even give her my e-mail address…"

Standing a one end of a long and narrow path in the middle of a forest dungeon, Blackrose and Natsume watched as their friend and leader Kite battled a group of spell casting monsters, staying out of it by his request as he practiced his skills. Sighing, Blackrose leaned farther back into the tree behind her.

"I understand his point, but I still don't like not fighting the monsters when they're right in front of me. It's just so damn annoying."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I know I'll still get experience, but I still want to do something," said Natsume, who was sitting on a stone slab beside the tree that Blackrose was currently leaning against. Watching Kite fight always seemed to show her what she needed to do to fight better, and Blackrose was always so strong as well…

"You know," Blackrose began, trying to figure how to start the conversation, "I met an interesting person this morning." Seeing Natsume turn to her as she got to her feet, she continued. "It was just after tennis practice, and I had to go into a nearby school to wait for my ride. In it, there was this girl I kind of knew. Apparently, she wanted to be like me, from what she told me. We talked about "The World" over some good hot chocolate she gave me."

It had slowly been dawning on the female twinblade, but the last part removed all doubt. Quickly, she looked down and to left, at the edge of the area. She could feel her cheeks flushing wildly, and could only keep thinking about the other girl she had talked to, and what she had told her… She was so embarrassed, and a bit afraid about what this suddenly frightening girl might do with her knowledge…

So distracted was she, she didn't notice Blackrose moving as she tried to apologize until she felt Blackrose use her right hand to bring her head up, and her left hand to lightly silence Natsume with a finger over her mouth.

"Shhh, don't apologize. That can be our little secret, alright?" Blackrose said, her head a couple of inches away, ending it with a slight wink. Natsume felt surprise, wonder, and such great relief that the sudden tension drained out in a great sigh.

"Thanks a lot, Akira."

"What for?"

"For listening, and not, you know, making fun of me and all that…" Natsume was embarrassed again. It just sounds so lame to be say that, yet she really meant it.

"Now Natsume, did you really think I was that kind of person? We're going to have work on that attitude of yours. Also, it's Blackrose in here, got it?"

All the embarrassment gone, Natsume nodded slightly, and smiled, a smile that was echoed on Blackrose's face. It was apparent to them that they were going to be good friends. Suddenly, as if to pause but not destroy the moment, there was a polite cough which caused both girls to turn their head as one.

"I was going to say that I'd defeated the monsters and that we could go on, but if I'm interrupting some female bonding," said Kite, with a distinct look towards Blackrose, "I can leave and come back later."

Blackrose blinked, surprised at the sudden intrusion and at not understanding the implication. Then she looked at the positions, of her leaning slightly over Natsume, there faces close together, the hand on the cheek and finger on the mouth, the blush that was returning to Natsume's face…

"WHAT!" This time, Blackrose was blushing furiously, while realizing exactly what Kite must have thought they were doing. It might have looked like that, in a way, but still! He must be punished! Bringing her sword over her head, and not caring that player killing had been disabled, Blackrose charged at Kite, who had brought his blades up as if to ward off the blow, and found herself lost in the laughter that encompassed Kite, herself, and Natsume.

1 new e-mail. Read? Y/N

Yes

Author: Blackrose

Subject: Working towards goals

You said you wanted to be stronger like me, right? Well, I only see one way of doing that, and that means we have to meet more often. I have some free time next Sunday afternoon. Do you want to meet in "The World", or do you want to meet at the new mall that opened at the main highway. Mail me back, alright?

Final notes: I started writing this awhile back, but it took the announcement of the new .hack to revive my interest in the story enough to finish it. I like how it turned out for the most part, even if the ending was a bit tricky to pull off and I'm not sure if I did it right. Strangely, while writing this I had the urge to turn it into a Blackrose/Natsume romance. Scary, but if anyone thinks they could pull it off, I'd be the first to read it.

Background wise, the story idea came from an e-mail that you receive in Mutation or Outbreak, where Natsume accidentally sends an email meant for Blackrose to you. In it, Natsume basically says how she envies Blackrose's strength, etc. etc. So, I decided to do something like Wandering and have them meet in the real world, and try to mix Natsume, with her (in my mind) self-confidence problems, with Blackrose's softer side. Not sure if I did, though.

I'm still lazy, so be surprised if I do anything more, though I have some ideas for short fics.

And of course, give me feedback/criticism/suggestions, especially on the end.