A/N: I'm actually really proud of this chapter. I love how everything sounds, I love how it all went. -happy-chu- One of my rarities, and I know exactly what I'm gonna do with it. This is gonna be great, if I can pull it off.

Impossible Reality
Chapter 1

Netto breezed down the sidewalk with ease, weaving expertly around passersby, bouncing balls, anything that crossed his path. He even did a backwards sommersault down a flight of stairs, landing perfectly back on his wheels and kept right on going. A panicked cry escaped his PET as he did so, and he couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Netto-kuuuun!" Rock growled, shakenly frustrated and trying to get his bearings back. "I thought you said you weren't going to do that anymore! You know I hate it when you go showing off like that!"

"Sorry, Rock," Netto laughed, glancing down at the small blue PET inside his pocket as he gave it a soft pat. He knew Rock wouldn't feel the touch, but he offered it anyway. "You know I love scaring you half to death. Besides, I'm getting good at this. I should go professional."

"You can 'go professional' when you stop trying to give me a heart attack... Although, me being a Navi, that's quite impossible." The Navi sighed loudly, staring around at nothing in particular as the world rushed by him. He'd grown accustomed to such sights, having spent years inside a PET as Netto raced from place to place, so the view as he flipped through the air with his Operator was nothing to him. It was the boy he worried about. If he were to slip and hurt himself... "I know that's not why you do it, but you know I'd be upset if you landed wrong or messed up..."

The teen chuckled heartily at this. "You know, you're starting to sound like my mother," he chided playfully. "I've only been skating for what... twelve years now, since I was six? It's about time I started experimenting with techniques, wouldn't you think?" He turned a corner, leaning into it as his feet automatically weaved his body around the curve. Rock was silent at that, and he grinned widely, staring down at his Navi as he continued along on his way to high school. "What? You don't trust me?"

The Navi sighed exasperatedly. Netto smiled slightly, then turned his eyes to the path before him. "It's good to hear something from you this morning anyway."

Rock blinked, confused. "How's that? I'm always the one to wake you up."

"Yeah, but you've been quieter than normal today." Two brown eyes found the emerald eyes of the Navi. "Something's on your mind. What's wrong?"

"Oh, that." Rock shifted his weight to the other leg, scratching at the back of his head. So, he'd been found out. "It's nothing... I just had a weird dream last night and it's stuck in my head."

Netto perked an eyebrow in interest. "Dream?"

Rock opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped before he could even get the words out. The girl was standing no more than twenty, maybe thirty feet in front of them. Neither she, nor Netto saw the other coming.

"NETTO-KUN, LOOK OUT!"

The boy looked up too late. "OH SHIT!"

The girl lifted her head a split second before they collided. There was a mingled cry from all three of them as they crashed to the ground, tumbled for a bit, then lay still for a moment afterwards in shock. A full minute later, Netto groaned, wincing a little as he forced himself to his hands and knees.

"N-netto-kun?!"

Instinctively, one hand went to the PET in his pocket. "Unnng... Rock? You okay?"

"Don't worry about me; I can't get hurt in here. What about you? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he groaned, slowly getting to his feet. Nothing hurt him aside from a few small bumps and what would surely be bruises in a few minutes. Then he remembered the girl.

Netto spun around, eyes frantically searching the area for her. He found her lying a few feet behind him, her books and papers sprinkled all about the grass and sidewalk. She was curled around her arm, her face scrunched in pain, yet she made no sound other than small whimpers. Netto was at her side in an instant.

"Hey! Are you okay? I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"Shut up!" She screamed, suddenly bolting up and shoving him roughly away from her. The look on her face was one of pure fury, tainted by pain; tears brimmed in her eyes. The general impression was that she was about to tear Netto limb from limb; the boy even edged away a bit, almsot certain she would. "What a jerk! Why can't you watch where you're going you... you..." The girl suddenly threw a fist down on top of one of her books in frustration, unable to hold back her tears any longer.

It was then that he saw the tiny stream of red dropping down the arm she had been cradling, and Netto reached cautiously out to her. "You're hurt... Please, I'm really sorry. Let me help you."

The girl shot him down with another nasty glare, even as she began gathering her papers. "I don't think so," she growled viciously. Netto made an attempt to help her collect her things, despite her words, and she snatched them back from him when he held them out to her. Before he could get another word out, she was up and running to the school gates, leaving Netto to stare after her, speechless.

"You see what I mean?" Rock sighed softly, watching the girl as she disappeared into the main building. "Accidents can and will happen."

Netto had nothing to say to defend himself. "She was still bleeding..." he whispered. "You don't think it's too bad, do you? She didn't give me a chance to see the wound."

"Well, she's no doubt headed to the clinic," the Navi said, shifting uncomfortably inside his PET as his mind went through the incident again, trying to figure out exactly what had happened. "I don't know how she landed, so there's no way to tell how serious it might be, but she'll be alright, I'm sure. Chimaya-san will know what to do." He paused, almost decided against saying anything about it, but opted to say it anyway and added, "Now will you please be more careful?"

There was an uncomfortable silence, lasting but a minute before Netto quietly gave his response. "Yeah... I'll be more careful." Slowly, he skated onto school grounds.

---------------------------

Netto slouched uneasily in his seat, one hand pressed against his forehead, the events of the morning still fresh in his mind as he waited for his teacher to arrive. He still couldn't believe he'd hit that girl - he hadn't run into anything since he was seven years old. He was usually so good at it, but she'd come out of nowhere. And who was she? He'd never seen her on campus before, and no one he knew had spoken of her. The fact that he had suffered a few bruises only served to upset him further - the girl was still bleeding pretty badly when she rushed off. What could possibly have happened to hurt her so? The arm apparently wasn't broken. He figured that when she used it to snatch her papers back from him, although she had winced with the movement. It might have been that she'd skinned it. Netto shuddered at the thought. He knew what those felt like, but none he'd ever received had bled like hers had.

Then there was the look on her face. That he was sure he'd not forget for weeks. She looked like she wanted to kill him, but there was something more. Her eyes were quite red and puffy, as though she had been crying before she was injured. It made him wonder to no end...

"Sorry for making you wait, class," came Mrs. Sosi's kindly voice, interrupting his thoughts. He hadn't even noticed the chatter going on all around him, but it died down as soon as the woman entered the room. "I'm running a bit behind today. We've got a new student, you see, and she apparently ran into some trouble on the way here, so she'll be late as well."

Inside the PET, Rock gave Netto a careful glance, then quickly stared off in another direction when he saw the look on his Operator's face. A few seconds later, a message popped up beside a small picture of a pink Navi on the monitor in front of the boy.

(Alright, what's up? I've never seen you come into class with that look on your face before. You look like you've just killed someone. What happened?)

Netto cast a small glance back at Meiru. The red-haired girl sat a few seats behind him on the other side of the room. She stared ahead of her, trying to look attentive as the teacher began her lesson for the day, but it was apparent from the little side-glances that her mind was elsewhere. With a small sigh, he typed a quick reply. (Accident this morning. I'm okay, but someone else isn't.)

He could just imagine the look on Meiru's face. (Oh gods... What happened?)

(I wasn't paying attention and I ran into a girl on the way here. She hurt her arm, and I don't know if it's alright.)

(Do you know who it was?)

At that instant, the door slowly opened. All eyes in the classroom turned their attention to the one who entered; all were curious to see a girl shyly make her way to the teacher's desk. Her long, dark red hair fell in soft, straight locks behind her in a pony tail; sullen, deep blue eyes lowered, she handed the teacher a few papers, brushing aside concerned questions with a simple shake of the head when the woman noticed the red, scabbed-over scratches all along her left arm and the bandage on her left shoulder, spotted from the inside with blood.

Netto's stomach fell instantly as he recognized her as the one he had run into earlier that morning. He looked about almost frantically as he realized she was the class's new student, but his unease only increased as he also realized that the only empty seat in the class sat directly in front of him.

"Class, our new student has arrived," Mrs. Sosi announced cheerfully as she read over the information on the paper. "Would you like to do the honors?"

The nervous girl shifted uncomfortably for a moment before nodding. "Hi... everyone," she began slowly. "I'm Kali... I don't have a last name, because I'm an orphan... and no one's adopted me yet. I'm from Jett county... and that's about all."

Though he tried to avoid looking at her, even made something of an attempt to hide his face with his hand, Netto couldn't help but notice that she never once lifted her eyes from the floor as she spoke. Now he really felt bad. Not only had he hurt her after she'd obviously already been upset, here he was finding out that she had no family, and she had traveled a very long way to get here. As if her day wasn't already bad enough...

"Thank you, Kali," Mrs. Sosi said as some of the class gave her a soft applause. "Your seat will be here, in front of Netto."

The boy groaned softly at that last statement. He looked about nervously as the new girl made her way over to the empty chair, then suddenly stopped just short of seating herself in it. He heard a soft gasp and immediately winced. Cautiously glancing upwards, he saw Kali pinning him with another of her angry glares. Apparently, she hadn't forgotten his face.

Grinning uneasily, he gave her a small wave, half expecting her to haul off and punch him where he sat. Instead, she turned her back and plopped miserably in her seat, dropping her books on the floor beside her. Netto felt a twinge of guilt as he realized with relief that he wasn't about to be mauled, then read the next message that was sent to him.

(I take it, from your reactions, that she's the one you hit?)

With a sigh, he responded. (Yes... Don't worry, I'm going to try to apologize to her after class.)

Rock read the messages too, then inserted one of his own. (I'll help out, if I need to. She's obviously got a lot on her mind. Another thing gone wrong is the last thing she needs.)

Meiru took a moment to reply, but seemed satisfied with their promises. (Okay, you do that. I want to make friends with her, so I can put in a good word for you if she's not convinced.)

Netto smiled at this, then sent a small (Thank you) and turned his attention back to the lesson.

Mrs. Sosi was at the board, her Navi already jacked in to the school's computer system. "... so if you'll all jack into your computers-" At that instant, Kali raised her hand shyly, if not a bit panicked. "Yes, sweetie?"

"I, um... I don't have a Navi..." the girl explained with embarrassment.

Netto dropped his head into his hands, mentally kicking himself all over the world.