A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! As promised, here's the next chappie. I only have one complaint. Yes, this fanfiction's inaccurate. I get that. It would be, being as I have yet to finish the second .hack GU game. The thing is, it's fanfiction! It doesn't matter if it's inaccurate, because it's a fictional story borrowing only the characters! The plots are all mine, so please stop reviewing me saying, "This is wrong," or, "That's not how it happens." or WORSE YET, "This is what REALLY happens:..." and then LIST the things. DO NOT DO THAT!!! I will send you a NASTY PM, and if it keeps happening, I might just stop posting the chapters here. PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!! That's all I have. Please disregard that info if you're one of the wonderful reviewers who just tell me what you thought, and not mention anything about inaccuracy. :)

Logging On

Chapter 6

Akira jumped from side to side, facing her opponent on the opposite side of the court. Her tennis racket took the place of her heavyblade, and instead of bullets a ball flew towards her. She jumped to the left and returned it, watching in satisfaction as it bounced into her opponent's side of the court. The girl on the other side hit back, and they volleyed for a few minutes, before Akira slammed a forehand towards the girl. She ran to get it, but the ball was moving too fast, and she missed it by mere inches.

"And Akira wins the match!" the announcer called over the loudspeaker. Akira walked to the net and shook hands with her opponent, a girl on their rival school's team.

"Good playing today," she congratulated, "You almost had me there."

The girl beamed at the praise, "Same goes for you."

They nodded to each other and walked off of the court to make room for the next match. Akira put her tennis racket back into her case and slung it over her shoulder, turning around to see Kenji standing behind her.

"Great job, Akira!" he moved to give her a hug, but she stepped back.

"I'm sweaty, and that's gross," she informed him. He looked disheartened, so she gave him a swift kiss on the lips, "Let me take a shower, and then you can hug me all you want."

He grinned at the idea, as well as the kiss, and nodded, "Sure." He took her hand and they walked off of the tennis court, heading back towards her dorm room. They were almost to the end of the rows of courts when Akira's coach caught up with her.

"Great game, Akira! You're putting that scholarship to good use!" he said in an excited voice. She rolled her eyes.

"Thanks, Coach. I'm going to go get changed."

The coach eyed Kenji and grinned mischievously, "Uh huh. Have fun, you two. See you on Monday, Akira," he waved and walked off to watch another girl cream her opponent. Akira shook her head and continued walking.

Kenji squeezed her hand, "He's an… interesting guy…"

"Oh, he's just full of surprises," she said sarcastically.

As Akira made her way to the showers, Kenji lounged on her bed, thinking about the previous days events. They planned on getting online after dinner at the university's cafeteria. Hopefully Haseo would be online, and then they could talk to this Yata guy about what was going on. He sighed. Just once, he'd like to have a normal experience in The World.

Akira walked in, "Close your eyes and turn around; I'm going to get dressed." She ordered, holding her towel around her body, her hair dripping wet.

Kenji obeyed, swiveling around on her bed and facing the wall, covering his eyes. He heard the towel drop to the floor, and then the rustle of denim as she climbed into her jeans. She chose her shirt and pulled it over her hair, wrapping it in the discarded towel to dry the locks faster.

"Okay, you can look," she informed him. He turned back around, taking in her loose jeans and baggy t-shirt.

"You look sexy," he grinned crookedly as she glared at him.

"You want me to go to dinner in lingerie? I will!" she threatened.

Kenji held up his hands, "Point taken!" he insisted, and she glared at him a bit longer before taking her hair out of the towel and brushing it out. She turned on the blow-dryer and proceeded to dry her hair the rest of the way. He waited patiently until she was done, and when she finished, she turned to face him.

"How do I look?" she flipped her hair and sent him a look that clearly dared him to say 'sexy' again.

"Beautiful," he complied, smiling sincerely. She beamed at him and this time her look said 'good answer'.

Akira walked over and sat in Kenji's lap, snuggling against his chest, "Do we have to go to dinner now?" she asked him.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. Her hair smelled like strawberries, and he inhaled deeply, "No," he murmured.

They sat contently for a half hour, just enjoying each other's company, when a knock on the door interrupted them.

"What?" Akira barked, not moving.

"Akira, can I come in?" Mitsuki's voice asked. It was standard procedure; ask before walking in. One never knew what a roommate was doing with her designated boyfriend…

Akira sighed, glancing at Kenji, who chuckled.

"Come on in, it's okay," he called, and Mitsuki used her key to open the door, as Akira had locked it when she changed. She took one look at them and a grin spread over her face.

"Oh, you two are so cute together!" she squealed, and they smirked in unison. Mitsuki began searching around the room, "I left my food card in here, and Kyo and I are going to dinner."

Kenji glanced at Akira, "Are you hungry now? We could go with them."

She looked upset, but she moved out of his grasp nonetheless, "Sure, fine, fine."

They followed Mitsuki out, heading for the cafeteria, still holding hands.

Haseo was waiting for them when they logged in that night. He met them at the Chaos Gate, arms folded, "Looks like you showed."

"We're not ones to ignore emails," Kite answered. He nodded in understanding.

"Good. Yata doesn't like to wait," he invited them into his party before glancing around. Then he entered the key words and the three of them warped out. They arrived in a run down city, complete with characters with emoticons as heads and corrupted data floating around.

Haseo cleared his throat, "This is—"

"Net Slums," Blackrose supplied.

He looked surprised, but shook his head, "Uh. I should have known that you two would already know about it," he shrugged, "Either way, it's called Net Slums Tartarga now."

Kite blinked, "Tartarga?"

"It's Italian and Portuguese for turtle," he motioned to the ground, "It's called that simply because it is, quite literally, on the back of a giant turtle."

Blackrose's eyes widened, "What?!"

She ran to the edge of the city, and looked over. Sure enough, they were on the top of a large shell, "This World is crazy…"

Haseo nodded, "Come on, Yata's still waiting." He began walking into the city, continuing until he arrived at a small park-like place. In the middle, on a large stone chair, a PC sat. He was clad in an orange dancer's outfit, with no weapons visible. Circular pink glasses sat on his nose, giving him a wise look. He stared at Haseo.

"Welcome, Haseo," he said in a commanding voice, "I suppose these are them?"

"Yeah. This is Kite, and this is Blackrose. They claim to be the dot-hackers, and they could see Skeith."

Yata surveyed them, "He does look like Tri-Edge. Either way, however, they speak the truth. They are indeed the legendary dot-hackers."

Haseo frowned, "Are you sure?"

The guildmaster smirked, "Wiseman told me to say hello, should I ever meet up with you two."

Kite grinned, and Blackrose raised her eyebrows, "Wiseman's in R:2? I didn't know that!"

"It's unimportant. If fate permits, you will meet up with him later. Now, you say that you were able to see Haseo's avatar, even though you are not Epitaph users. Correct?" Yata drummed his fingers against the stone chair.

Kite nodded, "Yeah…"

He sighed, "This complicates things. I assume it's due to your knowledge of the phases in The World, but one cannot be certain."

"Then why did we come here?!" Blackrose demanded, peeved, "You can't give us any more answers than he can!" she motioned at Haseo.

Yata chuckled, "I've heard you have quite a temper. I wanted to meet the dot-hackers in person. Plus, I have a curiosity. What are you two doing in the Sage Palace tournament?"

Kite shrugged, "We needed some goal to achieve. We're at too high of a level for the dungeons to be much fun anymore."

"I see," He looked down at the pair, appearing all knowing, "Well, if that's the case, why don't you and Haseo team up? It is also his goal to become Emperor."

Blackrose glared at him, "Why would we do that? We can handle it on our own; we don't need a third player."

"The current emperor is no pushover. It would be wise to have a full party before taking him on, but of course the ultimate choice is up to you," Yata turned to Haseo, "Please escort them back to Mac Anu, then go and meet up with Pi and Kuhn. They're waiting for you in  Hidden Surface High Spot."

Haseo nodded, "Fine," he turned back to Kite and Blackrose, "Come on, let's go."

Blackrose scowled, "Well, that was a waste of time," she muttered to Kite, who merely smiled at her before following Haseo.

A/N: Okay. There you have it. :) Just to let you know, in case you didn't read the author note at the top, DO NOT REVIEW TELLING ME HOW INACCURATE THIS IS. Flames, I can handle. Feel free to tell me that my story sucks. People telling me things that I already know, however, is something that I cannot tolerate. DO NOT TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN GU, because I DON'T want to know. Thanks:)