Forgot my disclaimer on the first chapter.  Does it really matter?  I mean, they're fun and all, but isn't the point of fanfiction that you don't own the series?

In other randomness, I am annoyed because the Japanese bookstore near my house carries SK manga only up to 12.  Thank goodness for the Internet.  I am also annoyed because when I lived in Japan this summer with my sister, I found out my neighbor there has a good friend whose daughter knows Hiroyuki Takei-sama.  But I didn't get to meet him.  Of course, with my rudimentary Japanese, it probably wouldn't have been much good, but still…  I also think she said he's stopped drawing, but I really hope I misinterpreted, because that would be awful. 

If anyone has continued reading my ramblings to this point, I admire your mental pain threshold greatly. 

            Asakura Yoh slept quietly, not caring as he slept that his face was resting rather uncomfortably on a tangle of wires on his desk.  The computer before him continued to run its search quietly.  A watch in the mess beeped its hourly chime, signaling the arrival of exactly eleven at night.  He stirred groggily, and then opened his eyes; the computer screen had gone suddenly black except for a few words.

            Wake up, Neo…

            Or should I say, Yoh…

            He sat up, staring at the words in confusion.  Who would know his Internet alias and his real name?  The screen seemed to wipe itself blank.  "What…?"  He hit the escape key and then Alt and F4 at the same time, but to no avail.  More words appeared.

            Do you want to know what the matrix is?

            "The matrix…?"  But his heart skipped a beat.  Maybe this was what he had been searching for…

            Blank once more.  Then:

            Follow the white rabbit…

            His hopes fell.  This was all just some kind of joke, a hoax instead of the lead he so badly wanted.

            Knock, knock, Yoh…

            He jumped at the sound of a firm fist on his door.  Suddenly nervous, he glanced at the source of the noise and then back to the screen.  The words were gone.

            "Hey!  Hao, you in there?" came a voice. 

            He sighed.  His brother's friends.  Making his way through the piles of junk on the floor, he looked out.  "Hao's not home."  And hasn't been for a month, but I'm not gonna say that.

            "Well, does he have the stuff ready for me?" asked the visitor, a young man with definitely more piercings than was healthy, and an entourage of similarly clad friends.

            Yoh understood what he meant.  "I'll check.  You got the money?"

            The man held up a thick handful of bills.

            Yoh nodded tiredly and shut the door.  Walking over to a cluttered set of shelves, he pulled out a book and flipped it open.  It was actually more of a box, with the insides of the pages cut out, and a number of small disks lay inside.  Shuffling through them and glancing at the labels, he pulled out one and returned the book to the shelf.

            Opening the door again a crack, he held it up.  "Yeah, it's here."

            "Great," said the man, handing him the money and taking the disk.  "This is a lifesaver.  Thanks."

            "Sure," said Yoh, uninterestedly.  He had never cared for the crowd his brother's hacking deals drew. 

            "Hey, why don't you come out with us tonight," offered the man.  "You look like you need to get out."

            "Oh…no, that's okay."

            "Come on.  It'll be fun; I promise."

            The girl next to him shifted impatiently, ready to leave.  Something on her arm caught Yoh's eye: a tattoo of a small white rabbit.

            Shaken, Yoh nodded.  "Yeah…sure, I'll come."

            The place, wherever it was that they took him (Yoh never went out much at night), made him feel decidedly out of place.  The music was too loud, and the flashing lights made him dizzy.  The people he had come with were dancing or downing beers, but something told him to keep his head clear; he couldn't be sure why. 

            Out of the mists of cigarette smoke hazing the already dim room, a girl seemed to materialize, wearing a sleeveless black dress with a skirt that rippled around her knees.  "Hello, Yoh," she said quietly, but he caught every word through the loud music.

            He tensed at the sound of his own name.  "How did you know…?"

            "I know a lot about you.  I've been waiting to meet you for some time."

            He backed away just a little, his hand brushing the wall behind him.  "Who are you?"

            "My name is Anna," she said casually, as if it should mean nothing.  She was uncomfortably close, but he really couldn't have heard her very well if she hadn't been.  A new song had started, much louder than before.

            "Anna?" he queried, something clicking in the back of his mind.  Hao had mentioned that name once when talking about some hacking incident.  "Kyouyama Anna?  The one who cracked the IRS Kansas City D-base?"

            She almost smiled, pleased that he knew.  "That was a long time ago."

            He turned away in disbelief.  "Yow…"  What would someone as skilled as her want with him?  And…

            "What?"

            "Hao just…I mean, I had always assumed you were a guy.  You know, with a female screen name.  It happens a lot."

            "Most guys think so," she said indifferently. 

            "Uh…do you want to talk somewhere else?"  Hao would kill for this chance, to talk to the Kyouyama Anna face to face.  But Hao wasn't here.  He would have been better at making intelligent conversation with a woman too, Yoh mused with faint amusement.

            "No.  There is very little time, and it's safe here right now."

            "O…okay…"

            "I have to warn you, Yoh.  You are in a lot of danger."  She spoke slowly, emphasizing every word. 

            "What??  Why?"

            "They're watching you.  Somehow something went wrong and they found you.  Usually, if our target is exposed, we let it go.  But this time, we simply can't."

            "I…I don't get it," said Yoh, feeling unusually thick.  If only she weren't standing so close…

            "It has to do with a question, the question you've been looking for an answer for."

            Where is Hao? was the first thing he thought of.  But that couldn't be it.  It was too specific.  She had to be looking for something more general…the clue he had been searching for.  "The matrix," he whispered.  "What is the matrix?"

            "Twelve years ago, I met a man who told me that no one can be told the answer to that question.  They have to see it, to believe it," she said quietly, as cryptically as ever, but Yoh felt strangely intrigued.  "He said that no one should go looking for it unless they really have to, because once you see it, everything changes.  Nothing is left the same.  The truth is out there, Yoh…  It is looking for you, and, if you want it to, it will find you.  It has found others…"

            She knows, he thought vaguely.  She knows something about Hao.  He opened his mouth to ask, but she cut him off.

            "That's all I can tell you right now."  She stepped back and studied him, as if appraising his ability to cope with the truth.  A shadow of incredulity crossed her face.  "Good luck."  She turned, her skirt flaring the tiniest bit.

            "Wait," he said suddenly.  "Who was that man?  The one who told you…"

            She glanced back at him.  "You know who, Yoh."

            And then she was gone.

To be continued…

Hm… Hao-sama will appear eventually, though not too soon, because of how the story falls.  He's the most fun to write, though, especially when interacting with Yoh.