A/N: Ah! Thanks for the clarification, Witticism! ^_^ Perhaps later I will make some adjustments to that chapter to more suit those facts...but I'm too lazy to do that now. *Laughs* Further in the story I'll start using the name "An" (as a nickname) because that's what I keep hearing...

I apologize for the delay. The site was screwed up lately; I was a tad angry thereafter, and I hadn't bothered to check its progress. Without further ado...

Enjoy the show. (I need to be shot for using that catchphrase. I really do.)

Disclaimer: No .hack for Konyo.

^*^

Chapter 4: And I Had Killed Her

See how what she wanted and she needed
Tore it all down in the end
Somehow like a sickness, she infects me
She's simple but deadly, my friend
Something of Value - Yellowcard

^*^

"I don't know how or why I let you people manipulate me like this." grumbled Midori, rather displeased by the fact she was standing by the hospital's glass sliding doors and dusting off her dark, velvet skirt. The two people composing the Sakuma family merely chuckled tentatively, the daughter folding her arms behind her skull. "Let's see the damn kid, then we leave...rather, I leave. If you need me thereafter, I'll be in the America server, attempting not to get killed."

Ryo smiled. "After tonight, you can forget about the guy altogether. Promise."

"Not likely." A strand of chestnut brown was shoved out of her eyesight, and Midori briskly trotted into the hospital, followed by Ryo and Annako--the teenage girl nearly had to run to keep up with "BT" and her long strides. "What was his name, Sakuma?"

Annako and Ryo glanced at each other, and then chorused obligingly, "Hikaru Mitsurugi."

"Right." She turned to the secretary-type woman sitting in a desk much resembling a bowl; its porcelain features curved upwards from the floor, attempting to veil the bland blonde behind the shell. "Excuse me, miss. My colleagues and I...we're looking for a person named Hikaru Mitsurugi who was...'committed' here six months ago." Without looking up, the short-haired secretary continue tapping the keyboard lightly, yet without skipping a beat responded:

"Sixteenth floor, second room on the left. Doctor Yadate is taking care of him; he recently woke up--" Annako tilted forward to see the secretary was reading off the screen...quite professional, she admitted mentally. "--with no memories."

Silence followed. The dying lights wavered and then rekindled themselves--someone must've been fixing them. Finally, Annako spoke, eyes brimming with angered tears. "You're lying."

The feral tone impelled the concentrated woman to look up. "Pardon?" she asked uncertainly, rather put off. But the violet-eyed teenager was long gone, and she merely caught a glimpse of chestnut-brown and gold wisps of hair whooshing after her. For a moment, the secretary could only glance back at the monitor. Cause of Ailment: collapsed playing video game The World; suffered severe head trauma.

Hadn't she seen a case similar to this before? A girl awoke from a coma the same day Hikaru Mitsurugi was rushed in... The secretary frowned slightly, her stony expression faltering beneath her perplexity. More typing; more clicking...in the hospital's search engine, she typed in "The World".

Results 1-6 out of 6

Takayama Annako;
Committed: December 2009
Cause of Ailment: Collapsed playing video game The World

The woman stared at the shimmering screen for a while. Then she shook her head, raven hair spilling over her shoulders, and pressed Alt+F4. Some things were probably better left alone.

^*^

"What's wrong, Annako?" In the elevator, Annako rocked back and forth on her tanned sneakers, as if itching to burst out of the doors; Midori merely folded her arms and stared emotionlessly ahead, occasionally sending a small glare towards the teenage girl's impatience. "It's just Sora."

"But...but it's my fault he's here in the first place...and...and I..." Annako hung her head, stray locks of hair shading her eyes. "I need to thank him...and...I feel really...bad about this..."

There was a short-lived quiet, which Annako used to tie her shoes.

"When Annako woke up from her coma, she didn't lose any of her memories," Ryo said suddenly, watching the seconds tick by on the elevator's marble-framed wall clock. "What makes this case any different?" Suddenly, Annako flinched, uncomfortable memories rushing back to greet her. The fact that the adults kept discussing her as if she wasn't there didn't help much.

"Her subconscious was trapped in The World. The Voice had simply disposed of her body, leaving her mind. This is different. No one has seen Sora in the game since six months ago--the Twin Blade player killer that had annihilated most players of the Delta server." The elevator screeched to a halt, and with great effort and groaning the doors pulled themselves open. The trio walked out hesitantly, Ryo and Annako at a somewhat faster pace then the leisurely steps Midori took, and entered the second room on the left.

On a vastly open windowsill, a 10-year-old boy dangled his legs aimlessly over the surface, humming and tapping his fingers on the concrete in tune. His hair was thin, jutting out in several directions; with blatant disregard to the heights he could plummet, the boy formerly known as Hikaru Mitsurugi watched the moon teeter over the horizon, battling for view with Tokyo's massive business firms and perhaps a Ferris wheel illuminated with a Yin Yang symbol.

"Hikaru Mitsurugi?" Ryo asked with a cagey note to his voice. Yet the boy did not answer; he merely hummed louder. "Err...excuse me?" The man began to walk inside, yet catching him by his trench coat's collar, Midori walked in instead.

"Sora?" she asked, voice humdrum and rather sans emotion.

The boy's humming came to a sudden anchor, legs and arms suddenly stiff as a board. Mechanically, his head craned around to make eye contact with the woman...whose voice was...startlingly familiar. Those eyes--they were in my...my flashback. Mother, I think I found the woman of my very literal dreams. He smirked, glancing at Midori's pine-green optics.

...

Sora chuckled remorselessly, using his hands to guide himself off the window rail and into his white-and-gray tomb. He advanced slowly upon the trio, yet stopped still far away; the boy raised his palms and turned them for a bit before producing a ballpoint pen out of thin air. "Neat trick, huh." After no one responded, he shrugged haplessly.

"What are you doing here, in my room?" he asked slowly, a sly enunciation settling on every word. "On second thought...who are you, miss?" Sora's crimson gaze flickered to Midori and lingered there for a moment, before shifting to Ryo and Annako with some thought. "Have we met?"

"Yes."

But she said nothing more.

Sora grew impatient. "Where? And furthermore, who are you?"

Midori glared at the two members of the Sakuma family before folding her arms and looking down at Sora condescendingly. "I am Midori Kawaguchi. We have met online; in a video game called The World. You killed my character," she said accusingly (or scathingly), "several times. I am still quite pissed."

Is she lying? I really killed people?

You have autonomy. I have little control or regard for actions considered negative by others.

I see...

Technically, you killed no one.

Good enough for me.

"It's good to know that I've bothered attractive people, then," Sora chirped good-naturedly. "So what do you want from me? Have a thirst for vengeance? I suppose the brown-haired girl and the old man have their separate reasons."

The lavender-eyed girl blinked and cleared her throat, tapping it a few times with the side of her fist. "A-actually Sora, we're coming t-to take you home..." she said slowly.

"I'll have to ask my mother," Sora said airily, turning his back to the highly confused trio. Mother? Well, Ryo could only expect as much from a 10-year-old boy, still at his parents' beck and call... The man prepared to announce something he suspected would startle the boy. He felt awfully cruel for his crude explanation...but still... he had a right to know.

"Sora, your mother--she's... W-well, she thought you were dead, and...left...you...here." His gaze shifted to the floor. "So...I...we're going to adopt you."

A mirthless bout of laughter suddenly echoed in the compact room, and Sora turned around again, hair fanning around his forehead before settling in front of his eyes. "Very imperceptive of you," he said rhythmically, tapping his foot, "as mother..." For a moment, he trailed off. "...Well, let's just say we're very in tune. So, why not? I will go with you, old man! Better tell the other geezer I'm leaving this place..."

"Mother" did not seem to object.