Author's Note: I don't own these people, nor does Mii-chan. Abby-chan owns herself, as well. As said before: you would be kidnapping us, and that's just bad, so don't attempt to steal us.
As for the names... I'll have to make a note at the end so that people don't get confused. Because that's definitely going to happen, whether I like it or not. This chapter takes place in two different locations: New York, and Japan. And I'm writing this as my friends and I being much older than we really are, and in the future nonetheless, so it's going to be the strangest thing.
Once again, the people who own .hack and all of their stuff own all of that. Amy, Abby, and I do not. My disclaimer has been typed, so I will not be sued. I have no money, anyway, so it's not like you'd win anything.

Chapter Two: Stay Away

Somewhere much further away from the Japanese server, Sierra awoke to a bright morning as she removed her head set. She'd left the front door open all night and blinked when she stared into the face of her best friend, Abby. Taken back, and turning down her music, she squealed.

"Another one? What now?"

Abby glared at the woman with a sigh. "Sierra, you left the door open again."

"Hai," she replied, only appearing half guilty.

In fact, Sierra was often like this. Abby would scold her for messing something up again and she would constantly act like a child in order to cover herself. Either that, or she really was still a little girl inside of that head of hers. A robin sang from the oak tree outside of her house, the same one she'd lived in since nineteen ninety five. Which currently proved Abby's theory that Sierra would never grow up –aside from living alone.

One of the speakers sang a quiet tune and Sierra glanced at the computer screen. "Oi, I gots an e-mail from Nyahan."

Abby sighed again. "Sierra, I came here to give you this."

The older woman held in her left hand a device that looked an awful lot like the headset next to Sierra's hand. Sierra, however, knew that this was far from the real case. There was something about that headset –beside its new purple tones –that set it apart from others. In which Abby explained in a very long breath of air that it was a newly developed set that would allow the user to access the music they wished to listen to as they were playing. She also went into detail as to how this worked but Sierra stopped her in mid sentence and wrapped her greedy fingers around the equipment.

"It's so beautiful… And it's mine to test?"

"We designed it for you. You're our only tester –have you forgotten that already?"

"Shouldn't have. I'm the only one who took the job." She grinned, jumping to hug her friend tightly. "You and Mii-chan are my saviors."

A resigned smile spread over Abby's face and she hugged back, the front door and use of her full name on The World having been forgotten… for a moment, anyhow, because then she returned her reproachful look upon the woman. "Sierra, Amy tells me that you're still using your name on The World…"

"Eh?" She blinked, staring at Abby's face. "A –Ah… Yeah, still am! I mean, after…"

"Yes, Sierra, I know. But even still, don't you think it's even in the least bit dangerous?"

She shook her head, grinning wider. "'Sides, I don't think I could be anyone else anymore."

After sharing a hurried breakfast, and then nearly pushing Abby out of the house (making sure to close the door behind her 'mother' figure), she hopped back into the world. There was no way that she was leaving this new toy for tomorrow.

Fujio sighed, prodding buttons left and right. His keyboard was only so big but he sometimes wished that it were much, much larger. There were only so many buttons to press, and none of them were as easy as search or employ, like the ones in their office inside of The World. Next to him sat a very lunch-deprived Akito, whose stomach was grumbling about how unfair it was that he was only paid so little a week for all of the work he did around this building. And that he was still single.

"I don't understand why…" he was saying.

Fujio was too involved within his work to even think about being single, or care about Tomitan's worries. In fact, when his desktop went black for a period of thirty seconds, he almost fell from his chair. And then it returned with a note that read: You are far from allowed to sneak into this computer, as it is protected deeper than you could imagine. Well, so much for hacking.

"How are things coming along over there?"

He shook his head, mostly to wake himself from the trance, before he answered. "It would be going a lot better if you were helping."

"Ouch. No, I've got something else to do. Do you want lunch? I'm starved."

"Noticed that. Hai. If you could…"

His boss had already run from the room.

Fujio sighed again, leaning back to stare at the ceiling above. Then, he thought about Akito and his problems with being single. One thing was for sure; Akito was the type of man that all women swooned over, even if just for a moment. He was tall, nearly six foot, with short black hair and chocolate eyes, and mostly wore dark clothes. Akito barely ever followed the rules; it was just something that he had never been good at. Perhaps it had been because of the way he had grown up –of course, that was something Fujio had never heard of.

He grumbled as the memory of his own childhood snuck like a demon into his mind. It wasn't until he heard a faint tune emanating from his speakers that he was brought back to reality with a punch. There was a girl staring at him from the black screen, a small girl in a red gown with jet-black hair and blue eyes. She was crooking her finger at him, and subtitles on the bottom of the screen read: Come with me, you silly boy. I can take you home. You will be happy with us.

Akito chose that moment to return. "Did you want… Fujio-kun?"

He had gone blank, mind devoid of all thought, and was reaching for his headset like a zombie. It didn't take the older man twice to run inside and turn the power off for his computer.

"Fujio," he annunciated.

For a few moments, Akito resorted to shaking him violently. He had a feeling that something was going on, that the strange girl had not been Fujio's doing. He had had to blink a couple of times to realize that had been a sort of a calling, and she was trying to pull anyone she could with her. Akito himself would have fallen if he had not been so careful.

A scream from across the hall was the only thing that tore Fujio from the screen. Akito was continuously shaking him, then dropped him like a rag doll onto the computer chair and made a beeline for the next office –Fujio was quick on his heels. Inside he saw Asako, a deranged look written over her features, standing over Shibayama-san with a plastic knife. There was already a small cut bleeding from the administrator's right cheek.

Akito had run inside, and grabbed Asako's arms in his hands. He ignored the consistent protests from her mouth, motioning for Fujio to help Shibayama.

"We found something," Shibayama muttered as they made for the main office. "About those girls."

"Nani?"

"The two that Tomitan was having you look up. He had asked Asako, as well."

Fujio's eyes became slits; he reminded himself to give Tomitan-san a lecture about how he could handle his own work. Then it dawned on him. "So then… What happened?"

"She went mad. I'm not sure though… One moment I was working on my own report and the next I was avoiding her blows to my head. Her computer screen…" She trailed off, acquiring a distant look, trying to remember.

"Was there a girl?"

Shibayama blinked, with a nod. "Dressed in a red dress…"

So he had not been the only one. "What did she find before that happened?"

"Her login," Shibayama answered. She paused, turning around to face Akito, who had snuck up behind them. "Avalon."

Akito stopped short, his face unreadable. The older man growled, pushing his way past the two, breaking off at a run towards the office of the one man who would have any idea of what was going on. Indeed, Carl stood at the doorway in wait. Although Carl was around fifty something years old, he appeared much younger, with only a few lines crossing his forehead. He wiped his glasses free of marks as the three arrived, Tomitan at the lead. When Fujio saw whom Akito had run to, he growled, and turned to walk away. There was no way he was talking to that American.

The CEO stared at Shibayama and Tomitan expectantly, clearing his throat when neither spoke. "There's still a stick up that boy's ass, isn't there?"

"Sir, she's back."

"Nani?" He opened the door and led them to sit in two very comfortable armchairs. His office was no bigger than their own though, which meant that he had two times less the amount of clutter they did. "Who is back, Tomitan?"

"S-Saura," he responded, catching his breath. "And she's brought someone with her."

Carl broke into a smile. "So, things are about to get interesting again."

"Sir! Asako…"

"I know this already, Shibayama. Do not worry –I have already hired a hypnotist to come and check on her."

A hypnotist… So, measures have already been heightened… "She nearly got Fujio, sir."

"I am aware of this, Tomitan. Do not worry; I am taking care of everything. But who, did you say, that she brought with her?"

Akito didn't answer. He stood, grabbing Shibayama's hand, before running from the office with an extremely loud, "Fuck you!" trailing in his path. Carl watched them disappear down the halls with a smirk.

"What was that all about?" Shibayama begged when they had finally reached their offices once more.

Fujio had already knocked Asako to the ground, who was unconscious and waiting to be lifted away. "So, Tomitan-san, the verdict?"

"We're leaving to get Asako some help. Now."

Shibayama pulled on her coat without question, residing to follow the two as they left the building in a rush. She glanced at one of the windows at the side the building when Akito peeled out, and she swore she saw a very pleased Carl cracking his knuckles, watching as they vanished around the side of the building.

As for the names:
Tomitan Akito (Tomi-san, 'to-san): Balmung
Sakurahoshi Fujio (Fuji-film, Re-ku): Reki
Shibayama Saki (Shiba-san): Kamui
Saito Asako: Magi
Carl: CEO of Japanese division for some area. Unknown World name.