I'm so happy… I found screenshots from .hack//UNSION! They come from Aura's Awakening, h t t p double backslash] aura [dot] altimitworld [dot] com. There's the most insanely cute Sora moment… definitely Sora/Tsukasa fodder, anyway. They're all dancing at the end ^^ Sora looks like he's doing something akin to a shimmy with Mistral… Yes.

Okay, this isn't one of my best, but it definitely is better than the last chapter which definitely sucked major cupcakes. Merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate to everyone who reads this and sorry for the delay!

**

Dedicated to the Name-Gamers. ^^

**

'Sora?'

An stood, bowing a little. Sora returned the gesture. The uneasiness in the air was almost palpable. Sora pulled uncomfortably at his uniform which hung in folds around his small frame, highlighting his almost painfully thin frame. An noticed that he still had the faint marks of a scratch on his face and his legs were still bruised and sore looking. She pulled at her shirt and tucked hair out of her face. Sora was staring at her with that measured, composed look, that he seemed to try very hard to conceal from them in The World. His red eyes were narrowed at her, his face twisted slightly with the beginnings of a scowl.

'A-An?' the boy said, after a few more seconds of silence.

'I… Sora…'

An wished she could just come out and say it. The ten year old's face was constricted with tension, his brow creased and the slightly maniacal glint she had know and enjoyed (or endured, for the most part) was all but quenched.

'I'll just go upstairs,' Sora mumbled, after a few seconds of silence. 'I'll be in my room.'

'But, I-'

'I have a lot of homework,' Sora interrupted, his voice rising a little towards the end of his sentence. 'I'll be a while.'

An only watched as Sora turned and fled up the stairs, bag banging at his skinny legs. Maybe that was why he was so acrobatic, she pondered. Because he liked to get away from people, because it was an easy escape from people who could not match his feats of bounciness. Because it made it easier to flee. Or maybe because it was the nearest he could get to flying. An never knew with the enigmatic boy. She wondered if she would ever find out with him.

If she didn't try this sentence, she probably would never find out.

'Sora… Sora, let's be friends…' she said beneath her breath, staring at where the boy had been.

**

'Who was that?' Bear asked, looking at the blue haired Long Arm.

'I don't know. She was a very strange woman. Definitely a bit evil looking.'

'She might have just liked that Queen of the Dark look,' Bear pointed out. 'Like Helba.'

'Helba…' Crim moved his hand in a waving gesture, indicating that Helba was definitely a bit of a strange cookie. 'Well, Helba is Helba. You know. But this one… This woman was just very evil looking. I know, there is no such thing as evil, blah blah, but she's the kind of person you'd push little children away from.'

'Like Mimiru,' BT interrupted snippily. 'Besides, the weirdest bit – Crim, you forgot the whole blurring thing. This woman kept blurring at the edges, like she was fading away into the game.'

'You're right,' Bear said, feeling exceptionally relieved that Mimiru was not there to start a catfight. 'That's definitely a bit strange… Maybe I should tell An?'

'She might get a bit worried about it,' Crim said. 'I mean… something going wrong in The World… not exactly something she'd want to hear, right?'

'Good point. I still think I'd prefer to let her in on what's going on, though,' Bear said, fingers twitching on his blade.

'Speaking of which… I wonder how she's doing with the brat?'

'BT!'

'He *is* a brat, Bear.'

'But he's a neglected brat. It makes all the difference,' Crim added.

'How?'

'You're obliged by federal law to feel sorry for him now.'

**

'Sora?'

An had waited a couple of minutes to let the pint sized player killer calm down, before heading up the stairs.

'Sora, where are you?' she called. 'Don't ignore me!'

She noticed a room off to the right, with a small brass name plate entitled 'Sora' on it. Accurately, she deduced that this could indeed be Sora's room and headed towards it. 'Sora?' she called, rapping on the door. 'Sora, let me in!'

After several moments of knocking, it occurred to her that she could try to open the door by using the handle.

Wondering exactly why that had not come to mind before, she opened the door and stepped hesitantly into the boy's room. If you could call it a room. It looked like a bomb had gone off. There were only two neat area, as far as An could see; the ceiling and the desk where an extremely expensive looking computer was perched. An could see the wiring cascading down like spider legs to the plugs. Incredibly precarious, it looked like anyone who touched it would be fried immediately. Maybe that explained his disposition, An thought.

Nothing. No one was there.

'Sora?' she said, panicking a little now. If his parents came home and found out that their darling son had done something like run away or jump out the window or…

Or jump out the window.

An looked at the window. It was carefully shut, but not locked. And right outside, there was a tree. A-ha.

An moved carefully over to the tree, among reams of clothes and other assorted junk (was that Pop Tart *moving*? This would scare Martha Stewart). Looking out, she saw the boy sitting beneath the tree, carefully avoiding a patch of dirt. Considering that his entire room was what one could accurately term a total tip, to be polite. There were a lot of different words that would have worked too but unfortunately the author has decided this must be PG fic. Maybe. Hopefully.

Crossing back to the door and avoiding the evil moving Pop Tart… okay, An didn't know it was evil, but God did it look so. Those pink sparkles. You never know with pink. As she was crossing the room, something caught at her legs and An tripped, crashing to the ground and muttered another thing that if repeated would increase the rating significantly.

His school bag. Sora had dumped his bag right in the middle of the room. Copies and books slid from it and one in particular was bent over and creased from An's knee.

'Oops,' An said, leaning over and picking up said copy. Reams and reams of small, messy handwriting covered the front part of the copy. An flicked through it, uninterested, noting the general absence of the stupid spelling mistakes children tended to make in it. She was about to stick it back in his already bursting bag, when something on the last page, a good half a copy away from the other items, caught her eye. She flicked back.

Messy doodles, rife with the furry markings of paper that has been erased one too many times covered the page. An stared, interested. The boy was not what you'd call an artist, but he was able to draw, a little. And the doodle at the top, the largest, was one she would definitely recognize as none other than BT.

An smiled, debating whether to tell BT. On one hand, it might humor BT a little, raise her ego from the underground tunnel it had plummeted to after finding his true identity. On the other, it would embarrass Sora beyond all relief, probably.

She'd keep his secret, then.

An looked among the drawings on the page. She could recognize herself in there, sporting a crooked looking staff and looking rather out of proportion, a small sketch of Subaru and a rushed looking Mimiru. Funnily enough, since the doodles were not exactly good, Sora had managed to capture their expressions rather well, or at least the ones that Sora was met with every day. Subaru looked rather annoyed but placid. Mimiru looked on the verge of having a spaz attack. BT looked annoyed and cold, and she looked closed and guarded. Bear, she noticed, was on the side of the page and was looking at her miniature self with a rather fatherly expression.

How strange. An never knew that Sora had seen Bear's fatherly side, let alone knew that Bear was at his most parental around her.

She closed the copy, folding over the bent pages as best she could, and pushed it back into his bag. She'd be dead meat, and with Sora that might not be an expression, if she were caught.

Plus, it was not babysitterly to leave your charge sitting under a tree. 

**

Sora sat, knees hunched under his chin, fighting away tears that were definitely threatening to flow. He would not cry. He never cried. It was weak and stupid to cry. And he was ten, for God's sake. Ten was grown up. Ten year olds were not little kids.

Definitely not.

He watched the ground in front of him with bored eyes, trying to think of ways to avoid An for what seemed like the indeterminable future. So far, the only thing he could think of would be to lock himself in his room, but boredom and hunger were two factors that persuaded him from that response. Man could not live on computer games, though God knew he had tried.

The park was one of his favourite places to sit, when his parents had tried to pry him from his computer. He had never enjoyed being outside, but this was the place that he despised it the least. Sora smiled at the irony, that someone who disliked the outside world (or, as he had come to know it as, 'that room with the big ceiling that is sometimes blue and sometimes black with little lights') had access to one of Japan's rare parks, and countless kids who wanted to stay outside were stuck indoors.

Irony sucked major cupcakes.

There was a woman passing by him now, giving him strange looks. Sora lifted his head in an effort to look less despondent. Apparently it didn't work. The woman, a rather motherly looking type, was coming over. Sora made an attempt to look cheerful.

**

An, walking over to the door deep in thoughts, was suddenly interrupted by the shrill ring of a phone. Doubling back, it took her several minutes to locate the thing, before breathlessly slamming to her ear on what seemed like the last ring.

'An? Were you there?' came the worried voice of Sora's mother.

'Yes… Sorry… I was just up with Sora in his room,' she lied. Well, partially lied.

'Oh, good. I hope he's okay. You're not interfering are you?'

'I beg your pardon?'

'You see… I think I forgot to mention it… He's a rather private person, you see, and I don't think that he likes being disturbed much. Especially after that little incident, we don't want to be too interfering.'

An sighed. That would really explain a lot. How Sora seemed to be free to do generally whatever he wished. Even running away on the babysitter through his window…

'Ah. Yes. Well, we're having… uh… fun, yeah.'

'Good. Listen, I called to say that we're in a bit of a pickle here… I have to meet with my client afterwards later, and then I have a dinner date with a very important customer and my husband. I'm afraid we won't be back until very late, or early depending on your viewpoint. I was wondering…'

'Yes?' An was feeling a little panicked – having to stay with Sora in a house on her own? And she wouldn't be able to do her homework either.

'So… I called Ryo. He said that Sora would be able to stay with you… is that all right? He said it would be, but I wanted to make sure with you. He's coming for you soon.'

His mother's voice had a very worried edge to it.

'No… no… that will be fine, Mrs. Uchiha,' An said, relieved but at the same time even more worried.

'Oh, thank you so much! Tell Sora to pack a bag and – no! I said to send that tomorrow! Don't… no!'

'Pardon?'

'Sorry, it's crazy here right now. Tell him to be good for you and I'll collect him tomorrow at around eleven am. Okay?'

'Sure.'

'Bye, An. Thank you again, and I'm really sor – Sell! Sell, not buy! Can't you understand me? I'm surrounded by-'

An put the phone down.

**

'Hey,' the woman said, looking down at him.

'Hey,' Sora said, not bothering to look up.

'You okay?'

'Pardon?'

'I said, are you okay?'

Sora looked up at the woman. She was pale, with a round face and blonde curls pulled back messily from her face and violet eyes.

Eyes narrowed. 'I'm perfectly fine, thank you. Why wouldn't I be?'

'Since you climbed out that window…'

Blast.

'That's where I live. I just had to… uh… go and get something, yeah.'

'Then why are you sitting down?'

Godammit, did he hate these bleeding heart women who though they needed to know everything just because he was smaller than them. Almost as bad as though jovial men who though everyone was their pal. A simple 'mind your business' would probably work here, but then again it was unlikely to deflect her.

'Because I don't have to be back for a while and… uh… yeah,' Sora said, realising that that was one of the most pathetic lies ever, if it could even be called a lie.

'Are you sure?' the woman asked, persistent as ever.

'No, I'm not.'

Ooh, naughty boy with his sarcasm, even though it was about as good as his lie.

'Pardon?'

'Uh… I have to go now,' Sora said. 'Yeah… Bye.'

The ten year old leapt to his feet and ran to the door.

The woman shook her head and moved off, thinking on what a strange kid that was.

'So he lives there…'

**

'Hey, S- Ow!' An fell on the ground as Sora crashed into her.

'What are you doing?' An asked, as Sora mumbled something extremely unsuitable for a ten year old.

'Don't say that!' she admonished.

Sora bit back a reply, and instead stared at An with what looked like a rather beseeching stare.

'Oh… right… Sora… what I meant to say is… I'll be your friend,' she said, slightly hesitantly.

The red eyes narrowed again.

'Really.'

It wasn't a question.

'Yes, Sora. I really do.'

Sora's eyes narrowed again, even though that was seemingly impossible, scrutinizing the girl who was sitting on the floor rubbing her head. Then he moved over to her slightly.

'What the-'

An wrapped her arms around the shy, hesitant kid who had just hugged her.

After a couple of seconds of squeezing and general fuzzies, Sora moved away self consciously and straightened his school uniform.

'Oh… Sora, you have to come stay with us.'

'What?'

'Your mother called. They're going to be very late, so Ryo-' she noticed his blank stare. 'Bear said you could come and stay with us. Your parents know Bear, didn't you know that? His real name is Ryo Sakuma.'

'Uh… no… What about everyone else?'

There was real curiosity in his voice, the careful blankness receding slightly.

'Well… I don't know too much about BT or Crim, but I think BT was a model – that was good taste there – and Crim, I think is a business man or something of the sort. Mimiru and I are around the same age. I think she's actually coming over tomorrow, so you might be able to meet her, and Subaru is a bit older.'

An didn't mention how BT was retired or how Subaru, or rather Mariko, was confined to a wheelchair. Something that they might prefer that he didn't know.

'And Ginkan? He must be a bodyguard or something.'

'No… I'm actually not sure what he does.'

Ginkan would kill her if she told Sora he was a video-store clerk.

Sora sat for a while, processing this information.

'Do any of them know who I am?'

'Well… yeah, they do.'

'What?!'

'Uh… Ryo told them… yeah.' An grinned weakly. 'Sorry about that.'

Hang on. An opening in the conversation.

'So… do you ever think about going back? I know that they would like to meet you, they really would.'

Teeny little white lie.

'No.'

There was absolute resolution in the skinny kid's voice.

'Never?'

'An…'

'Yeah?'

'You should know how I feel. There's something about that place… I don't know. I don't like it, Tsukasa.'

An didn't comment on his use of name. She was mesmerized by something in his eyes… Subaru had once told her that it was easy to see her suffering, because she just had that look in her eyes. She didn't know what it was then. Now she did.

'You were trapped too, but you had the run of The World. I was stuck… By myself. All alone. And no one came for me for so long…' Sora gave her a reproachful look and An realized this comment was aimed at her.

'I'm so sorry, Sora. I wasn't able to get into The World for ages… I didn't know what had happened to you. No one did. It was only Kite and even he didn't know, he was looking for Orca and…'

Great going there, An. Open mouth, insert staff.

'I know,' Sora looked rather downcast. 'Even he wasn't looking for me. No one was. No one cared.'

'We did, Sora… we really did.'

'No, you didn't.'

An wondered what to do, feeling ashamed for not trying to find him. No wonder he had doubted her intentions so much… being trapped when your 'friends' did not come for you…

'Sora. Listen. I'm really sorry. I didn't know. If I had, I would have come for you. But we really need to get going. Ryo will be home soon.'

Sora stood up. 'Yes. I'll go and… I'll go and pack my bag. Can't be late, ne?'

An noticed, though he seemed to be rather reproachful, that he had cheered up considerably. Though he had seemed to be rebuking her, and An realized that he was probably the only ten year old who could successfully rebuke a teenager, it was surprising what friendship's effect could be. He even hummed.

Tonight, maybe. Maybe she could convince him then. It wouldn't be easy, but maybe now it would be possible.

**

o.0 What the hell was I on? I had a psychology essay to work on too… Meh. Such is the life of a fourteen year old. Still, this is the only non-OneShot I've ever done.

To mah lovely reviewers:

Crystal: I know, he's so beggaring hard to draw. I only have a half decent sketch done in my Geography book, and that was after a bloody long time trying. Still, I bet you're only being modest. Hope you like this chapter!

Valefor: Dontcha just love them mysterious kinds? o.0 they actually annoy me… but I'm glad you noticed ^^. Thanks for your comments on my analogy… my brat cousins were here and they were on my computer all the time, which is why it took so long to update… and that analogy is dedicated to them.

Taltos: Yup… my browser was being a total be-atch for a while. Urgh. I ahte it when that happens. That and when net services make you pay ^_~

Moonlight'sSpell: Thankies. I have no clue what-so-bloody-ever how Crimmy-kun acts… But I found a place where I can download it all, so hopefully I can get a better handle… And my first cliffie too!

Again, happy holidays, and thank you to everyone who reviewed my other fic… Too kind! *hands out plushies and cookies*