Hi everybody! My name is Emichii and I write Rare Hunter Mireille! I'm sooo happy! We're already up to chapter 9! Wow! yaayyy! yipeee! I'm so grateful to everyone who reviewed! Thankyou sooo much! Okay! Here you go! Chapter nine! Yaayyy! Read and review! Oh and by the way, I don't own .Hack.

CHAPTER 9/FALLING

"Congratulations. I didn't think you'd make it this far," said Balmung.

Shugo and Mireille stared at the legendary player, who was also a system administrator. Although they had seen him before, he never ceased to amaze them- because he was such a strong player.

"B-Balmung!" Rena cried.

Balmung looked at Rena but didn't show any sign of recognition. "Hello Rena," he said.

Mireille was standing by Shugo's side. "Balmung, I've completed the Rare Hunter Quest event thing." she said bravely.

Balmung didn't blink an eye. "Where's the Walking Stone then?" he asked flatly.

"Um… it's…" Mireille turned around nervously, looking around for Hotaru. Hotaru was standing behind Rena, with the Walking Stone sitting on her head.

"It's over there!" Mireille finished. She went over and took it.

Just as she was handing the turtle/Walking Stone over to Balmung, it got knocked out off her hands. Someone had pushed her over.

The Walking Stone flew out of her hands and she fell down to her knees along with it.

"What-" she started.

"You two again!" Shugo said angrily.

Standing towards the side, Raiou and Jayel stood triumphantly. Raiou had pushed Mireille over and now Jayel was standing there with the Walking Stone in her hands.

"You didn't really think we were just gonna let you guys take it, did you?" Raiou snickered.

"What?" Rena demanded. "You guys agreed with us that you couldn't get it from the middle of the lava!"

Jayel shrugged and smirked. "That's what we do. We leave all the dangerous and hard stuff to everybody else, then take the rare stuff right out of their hands.

Mireille jumped to her feet and retorted, "You know that's wrong!"

Jayel replied haughtily, "We're Rare Hunters. All Rare Hunters are like that," she stepped closer and looked down menacingly at Mireille.

"We Rare Hunters," she continued with an air of authority, "do not work together with a party. We don't need friends or other people to help us. We're hunters. Rare items, experience points and treasure come before anything else!" Jayel pointed at Mireille and said, "You're no Rare Hunter, just a loser."

She flicked her green hair over her shoulder and added, "Friends aren't important. Rare Hunting is just about the rare items. And because you're definitely not worth the title as Greatest Rare Hunter in The World, I'll just be taking this Walking Stone."

Ouka clenched her fists and exploded. "JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GIVING THAT GREAT BIG LECTURE ABOUT RARE HUNTING?" She ran up to Jayel and grabbed both her wrists with one of her hands. The Walking Stone fell out of Jayel's hands and fell to the ground.

Both Shugo and Raiou dived for it.

Ouka kept screaming her head off because this Jayel had insulted her one of her best friends. "I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT MIREILLE'S MUM WAS THE LEGENDARY MISTRAL FROM THE DOT HACKERS!"

Mireille stared at everything before her. Shugo and Raiou were just about killing each other for the Walking Stone, and the Walking Stone was trying to crawl away- in the direction of Hotaru. Hotaru was crying her eyes out because of what Jayel had said; Rena was flirting with Balmung, who was watching Shugo and Raiou.

Zefie was standing aside, cheering Ouka on. Ouka was punching up Jayel but Jayel was quick and Ouka had trouble trying to catch her.

Mirei felt like her hands on the controller were frozen. She didn't know what to do.

"Mirei! You'll have to stop playing soon!" her mum called, "we're so busy, you know that! We're moving tomorrow!"

Mirei knew that her mum's boss had transferred her to the next prefecture because of her work. And it could be a while before she'd be able to play The World again in the next few days. She couldn't just sit there, staring at the screen.

"Please…" she started, quietly. But no-one could hear her. "…Please…" she said louder.

Nothing changed.

Everyone continued their fighting.

"Please…" she cried. "…Please STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!"

Everyone stopped and turned to her.

Mireille said, "I don't want us to keep fighting like this. Not over something as small as this… I know what your stereotypical Rare Hunter is, Jayel, but… I'm not like that… My mum and I are moving to the next prefecture tomorrow and I won't be playing for a few days after this… I just want to spend all my time in The World having fun… because I love all my friends, and I don't want anyone hurt…"

She looked towards the bruised and battered Shugo and Raiou, "We've all tried so hard and went through so much for this Walking Stone… to get whatever Balmung has in return for us… but if this is what's gonna come out of it… then… I wish we'd never even heard of this quest."

She seemed unsteady for a while then, but continued, "I… I… don't want anyone to get hurt!" The next few words that came from Mireille's mouth seemed more directed to Shugo than anyone else but they all got the message. "… I don't want you to fight because… I don't want anyone to get hurt… because I love you all so much!"

Tears started to roll down Mireille's cheeks. Shugo immediately started to head towards her direction, to comfort her, and Raiou had the chance to grab the Walking Stone.

He started to reach for it, but then drew his arm back. What Mireille had said, had got to him. He didn't want to be so rough and mean anymore.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing?" cried Jayel. She pushed away Ouka and ran towards the Walking Stone. "Why aren't you just grabbing it? You idiot!"

Jayel grabbed the Walking Stone and started to head towards Balmung. Shugo saw and shouted, "No way! You're not getting that Walking Stone so easy!"

Shugo ran towards Jayel and slammed against her. The Walking Stone flew out of her hands and bounced along the ground.

Shugo and Jayel raced each other for the Walking Stone. The Walking Stone turned around and started walking in the other direction. Jayel dove for it and hugged it to her chest.

Shugo grabbed it out of her grasp and threw it towards Mireille.

"NOOO!" screamed Hotaru. "Don't throw it! Don't throw it! It's alive!"

Mireille reached for the turtle but Jayel jumped in front of her and pushed it towards Raiou. But Raiou wasn't interested in it anymore.

Jayel was furious. "Fine then," she said angrily. "I guess I'll just have to do everything by myself!"

The Walking Stone was flying through the air. Shugo and Jayel fought to get it, and then Shugo fell over. His arms dangled over the edge of the cliff.

(They were on the top of a mountain thing remember?)

Jayel grabbed it then fell back, the turtle went flying again.

"No!" Hotaru whimpered. "It's the Walking Stone! It's supposed to walk, not fly!"

Shugo felt in his heart for Mireille. He loved her. And now he saw just how much pain she had gone through to build herself up to who she was now. All that stuff they had gone through to get the Walking Stone. He had done it all for her.

Even though he had gotten hurt, Shugo wanted Mireille to become the Greatest Rare Hunter in the World. And if she was to move to another prefecture tomorrow, all the moving and packing would take days. He wouldn't be able to see her for a few weeks but… she was important.

Mireille was another player. He'd never met her but he knew her so well, well enough to fall in love with her. It was all a game, he knew that, and they probably could never be together but he wanted her to smile.

Shugo jumped forward to the Walking Stone. And for the second time, he was falling down. And down and down.

Tumbling through the air, falling off the cliff!

Emichii: Thanks for reading chapter 9! thanks sooo much for reading! Don't forget to review everyone- suruno wasurenaidenee! Ohhh! That was so good! I'm so proud of myself! Yaayyy! Read and review!