A/N: Well, it took a bit longer to get the reviews that I wanted, but that's okay. The minute I saw that we were up to 70 I posted this chappie:) In case you haven't noticed by now, I go for 10 reviews a chapter. So, the quicker I get those, the quicker I post. Make sense?

Oh my god, guys! I looked at the rest of the story, and we have like, TWO more chapters after this one! (including the epilogue!!!) Are you ready for the end of the story?

Great job not telling me about inaccuracy or anything like that! I appreciate it!

Logging On

Chapter 8

Blackrose logged on alone for the first time in five years. Haseo was waiting for them, and he was surprised when only she showed up.

"Where's your other half?" he inquired, folding his arms.

She sighed, "Sick. He's in bed today."

Haseo raised an eyebrow, "And you're such a supporting girlfriend, playing a video game instead of helping him."

"He's sleeping right now! I'm in his room, what else was I supposed to do?" she yelled in a hushed voice.

"Okay, okay, no need to be all defensive," Haseo held up his hands.

Blackrose leered at him, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

He shrugged, "Yeah. She doesn't get online, though. She fell into a coma from this game because of Tri-Edge, so she's agreed to wait a while before logging back in."

"Some boyfriend you are."

Haseo blinked, "What?"

Blackrose grinned, "You're always online! When do you spend time with her?"

"She—"

"Uh huh. It's always her fault. So now not only do you not spend time with her, you're also blaming her!" feeling triumphant, Blackrose walked off, leaving Haseo to continue babbling about his girlfriend.

She decided to level up in a dungeon, but chose a rather high level one and was dismayed to figure out that Kite was a very valuable player in their team. Luring a monster's attention away from Kite didn't work too well when he wasn't there to strike at the unprotected area. She quickly realized that she wasn't cut out to play in a high-level dungeon without him, but in dismay she discovered that she was low on sprite ocarinas. Actually, she was out of sprite ocarinas.

"Dang," she muttered, turning around towards the exit, only to see it filled with monster portals. Her only other choice was to continue to the Gott Statue and use the Chaos Gate there to gate back to town. Unfortunately, she didn't know how much farther the Gott Statue was.

"I can't log out, because I've finally caught up to Kite level-wise, and I didn't save my character data before going on this quest…" she mentally cursed herself.

"Need some help?" A voice behind her asked. She whipped around to see a gorilla-like character standing there, clad in a puffy off-white robe and a hat that resembled Kite's.

Blackrose frowned, "A vagrant AI…?"

The character chuckled, "No. In The World R:2, PCs can take on all different types of animal characteristics. I'm just a normal Macabre Dancer, perfectly human."

She stared at him. A smile spread across his face.

"Hello, Blackrose. I've been hoping to meet up with you again after our last encounter."

"How do you know my name?" she asked.

He looked mockingly offended, "What, you don't recognize me?" he asked sarcastically.

"No."

"Naobi, at your service," he bowed gracefully, and she continued to eye him untrustingly. He sighed, "Wiseman."

Her eyes widened, "Wiseman?!"

Naobi nodded, "My character data was unsalvageable, unlike yours. I was forced to make new PCs. You've already met one of them."

Blackrose's look of confusion was back.

"Yata."

She gaped, "You're Yata too?!"

"And another character named Nala. I decided that one character was not enough to get the information I require, so I split them up into three. It's costly, but worth it with the inside reports I receive."

Blackrose nodded slowly, "Sure…"

He grinned again, "So, may I accompany you?"

He sent her a member address, and she invited him into her party. They continued down the dungeon, and Blackrose wasn't surprised to find out that it was much easier to defeat monsters. Naobi didn't work as well as Kite did, missing several openings that Blackrose created, but he was still a skillful player, and they descended to the Gott Statue without much trouble.

"So, I've been meaning to ask. Where's Kite?" Naobi inquired casually.

Blackrose scowled, "In bed with a fever. And don't you start on how I'm a bad girlfriend, because he's sleeping."

He looked confused at her last statement, but nodded all the same, "Did you give him some medicine?"

"Yes. I'm not a bad person just because I decided to play video games instead of watching him sleep," she glared at him, daring him to say otherwise.

Naobi nodded, "I never said you were."

They continued in silence. After a few more monsters, they reached the final level and the Gott Statue. Naobi stood aside, "You can have the treasure, Blackrose. I don't need it."

She smiled gratefully and opened the chest, taking the Aqua Board inside it. Then she turned to the gorilla player and bowed.

"Thanks for helping me. I'll call you to do this again once Kite's better."

He nodded, "I'm glad to have met you once more, and I hope we can get reacquainted in the future."

She waved and gated out. The root town in the  server, Celestial City Dol Donna, spread out before her. Quickly she saved her game, and then logged out to check on Kite.

Kenji was still sleeping when she logged off, and for a moment she considered getting back online to meet up with Kazu or something. That idea quickly left her mind, however, when he stirred. She got up and walked over to him, picking up the washcloth in a bucket beside his bed and wringing the cold water out of it before setting it atop his forehead.

"Who says that I'm a bad girlfriend?" she muttered darkly, clearly still taking Haseo's words to heart.

Kenji stirred again and opened bleary eyes, "Akira? Are you still here?"

"Of course!" she couldn't keep the irritation out of her eyes, "I'm a good girlfriend!"

He blinked, "Um, sure…"

Her eyes softened, "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Kenji assured her, sitting up, "I still have a headache though."

Akira frowned, "I'll get you some Tylenol. Wait here."

Kenji chuckled at the thought of leaving, but obeyed, watching as she walked over to the sink and pulled out a bottle of the medicine. She got a glass of water and handed it to him, "Here," she gave him two pills to swallow.

He took them without complaint, then glanced outside, "It's getting late. Don't you have tennis practice?"

She rolled her eyes, "I can miss one day. The coach can't do anything, and he won't kill me for it," she winked, "I'm his star player."

Kenji shook his head, "Go on, I'll be okay. I'm not a little kid, you know."

Akira put her hands on her hips, "Sure, sure. I don't believe you."

"Seriously, I'll be fine."

"And you'll be even better if I'm here."

They glared at each other for a moment, before Kenji sighed, "Fine, do whatever you want."

Gleefully, Akira plopped down in the chair by his bed, and he laid back down, "I'm going back to bed, and you're going to be bored," he warned threateningly.

"I'll just get back online again."

He stared at her, "Again?"

"Oh, yeah. I got online, and I met Wiseman!" She beamed.

Kenji was silent, waiting for her to continue.

"Turns out that he was actually Yata, and he has another character besides the one that I met today. Crazy, huh?" Akira grinned.

He rolled his eyes, "Wiseman always was a bit off."

She shrugged, "Well, it's a good thing he was there, because I was as good as dead in that dungeon. I need you there, or else it doesn't work," she sighed, "I've become way too dependant on you."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing," Kenji pointed out.

Akira shook her head, "Not now, sure, but what about when I graduate?"

Kenji fell silent, thinking.

"See?" She chuckled, "I'm going to have one hell of a time dealing with that one."

Still he said nothing, and she looked at him again. It appeared that he was sleeping, so she stood up and walked to the window to look out. As she turned away, Kenji's eyes flickered over to her, and he frowned.

Maybe not…

They logged in so that Kite could level up before the final battle with the Emperor of the Sage Palace. Haseo was MIA, so they left without him, praying that he would take the time to level up before the big match. Unfortunately, just as they were leaving, a nightmare revisited.

"Ye of fair eyes!"

Blackrose and Kite froze, and they turned slowly to see a large PC in gawky golden armor, complete with red sunglasses and an obnoxious smile. The PC wielded a large spear-like drill thing, but that wasn't what made them stare in disbelief.

"Oh, this is splendid! I never would have fancied seeing you now, five years later!" the PC cried joyously.

Kite bit his lip, glancing at Blackrose for help, but she looked just as mortified. "Um… Yeah…"

Blackrose switched to whisper, "We could pretend not to know what he's talking about."

"It's no good; he's probably seen our names by now," Kite responded, reminding his partner about the ability to hover on a PC and see what their name was.

"Dang."

"Why are you quiet, ye of fair eyes? Do you not recognize me?" The PC sounded offended at the very thought.

Kite shook his head, "No, no! It's, uh, great to see you again, Piros!"

Blackrose made gagging sounds, still in whisper mode.

"My words exactly!" Piros beamed and turned to Blackrose, "What about you, fair maiden? Do you remember me?"

"You're impossible to forget," she sounded forlorn. Kite elbowed her in the ribs.

Piros didn't notice, "So, are you going adventuring? I shall accompany you!"

"Um…" Kite glanced at Blackrose, who was frozen, as Akira in the real world had fallen out of her chair at the thought, "I don't think we're going adventuring."

"Why not, ye of fair eyes?" Piros asked grandly.

Kite coughed slightly, putting on an act, "I, um, just got over a cold… I think we're going to take it easy today."

Blackrose was back, nodding to his words, knowing that this was a lie. He had been perfectly fine for days now, and she just knew it was because of her amazing support. She was a good girlfriend, as she had frequently reminded him.

"How tragic!" Piros gasped, "I do hope you feel better soon, oh ye of fair eyes!"

Kite bit back a chuckle and nodded, "Me too."

"Well, then, there is nothing for me here! Unless, of course, the fair maiden would like to come with me?" he looked hopefully at Blackrose.

She cleared her throat, "Oh, I think I'm getting sick from Kite! Sorry!" she said quickly.

Piros nodded sympathetically, "I sincerely hope that is not the case. In any event, I shall take my leave! We will meet up again!" and he whisked away dramatically.

Blackrose watched him go, sighing, "Let's hope not," she muttered. Kite looked sideways at her.

"You're getting sick?" he sounded concerned.

She laughed, "Not in the slightest. I just had to get rid of him!"

Kite nodded in understanding, "I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate being PKed by you, anyway."

"True, true," Blackrose grinned, "Shall we go?"

"Sure," He smiled in that way that only he could achieve, and Blackrose's grin grew bigger.

"Which dungeon this time?"

A/N: Oh, they're so mean to Piros. But you gotta admit; he's a REALLY annoying character. I think they did that purposely...