Chapter 2: Loneliness

"Nami! Hurry hurry! I've got something to show you!" squeaked Nami's younger sister, Aya as she poked her head in between the doors of Nami's bedroom to find her older sister sitting on the computer playing Elder Tale with little to no clothes on.

"Oye, Didn't we make a promise for you to leave me be on my birthday?" sighed Nami as she quickly entered a city in the game to keep from being PKed. Turning to her younger sister she put her hands to her hips and frowned disapprovingly. Almost as if Aya had done something entirely rude and embarrassing to her sister, who was 2 years older.

"Sorry sis but this is important! You'll love it!" giggled Aya as she hopped up and down before closing the door once more.

"Get some clothes on and meet me in the kitchen!" she called back as Nami heard her scramble down the hallway that lead to the kitchen. Sheesh... thought Nami as she stretched a bit and checked the time. 6:00pm was the time. Man I've been playing for 6 hours straight already? she thought with a smirk before quickly logging out of Elder Tale.

"Well it can't be helped I suppose," she said whilst gingerly closing her laptop and looking around at her room. Clothes, empty soda cans, bags of chips, and energy bars lay strewn everywhere around her. Wrinkling up her nose, Nami had finally started to notice how dirty her room was. Time to get to work then... she thought as she sifted through the stuff, trying to find a clean t-shirt to wear. She was, in fact, only wearing her undergarments currently. It didn't really matter to her what she wore while playing Elder Tale, so long as it was comfortable.

Minutes passed before she found a suitable t-shirt. The text on it said Elder Tale Convention 2016.

"Oh the memories," she laughed before slipping the shirt on and grabbing a pair of shorts. Tying up her dirty blonde hair into a ponytail, Nami decided to put her feet to work as well by shoving all the trash to the side in order to make a clearly defined path from her doorway to her computer.

"That outta do it," she said once she'd finished, gazing over her attempt at cleaning her room. She was about to take a picture and send it to her friend when a call was heard from the kitchen.

"Nami!"

"Coming!" she replied before snapping a quick picture of her room and leaving. She opened the door to find the usually bright and cheerful hallway of her house completely dark. Weird... she thought as she pondered on what was going on, being that it was unusual for her house to be so grim looking.

"If this is some kind of set up for a party Aya," she yelled down the hallway, "You know Mom and Dad are away on a trip!"

"I know! It's not though!" she replied rather quickly. Shaking her head, Nami made her way down the hallway towards the kitchen, which seemed to be the only place currently illuminated in the house. Nami walked on, but when she was about to turn around the corner a bright light flashed from the room, momentarily blinding Nami. In the midst of the flash of light, Nami could her voices.

"Happy Birthday!" the voices yelled in excitement as the light died down and Nami adjusted her eyes once more. Immediately in front of her she saw a large birthday cake being held by none other than her father with her mother at his side. Off to the right of them stood Aya, grinning from ear to ear.

"I... I don't know what to say," exclaimed Nami with a grin as she looked back and forth from her parents to the cake and finally to her sister.

"You don't have to say anything," replied her Father, whose voice had suddenly changed to something darker, his eyes narrowing now along with a frown forming upon his face.

"What do you mean Dad?" asked Nami taking a step forward, her hand reaching out in hopes of bringing back his lighthearted mood. In response to that her father simply laughed mockingly before dropping the cake onto the floor.

"Oops," he said as Nami's mother reached down to pick up the cake, but was kicked down by her father. Nami took a step back as she watched her mother collapse to the floor, doing nothing but fidgeting slightly.

"Mom!" called both sisters in unison as they advanced a bit but were swept back by an enraged fist from their father.

"Stay down you bitch!" he roared down at their mother before turning to Nami and grinning, "And you..."

He slowly approached Nami as she backed up and out of the entry to the kitchen. The desperate plees and cries from Aya ignored.

"You useless little shit!" he said as he picked up Nami by her shirt and held her up to his face, close enough so that she could see the hatred in his eyes, "I outta teach you a lesson... and a good one at that."

"No Dad! Please stop! Sis didn't do any-" squealed Aya as she ran up to her father and started pounding her fists upon his back in a desperate attempt to spare her sister from his rage.

"Shut up!" he yelled as he shoved Aya away before he turned his attention back to Nami, "I hope you've had a good time with your life doing NOTHING!"

He then pinned her to the wall and raised his fist, ready to swing. Nami gulped and struggled to get free, but it was all in vain. No sooner had the fist been raised then it came down upon Nami. A brief split second of pain was felt before Nami blacked out completely...

"Aaaah!" cried Nami as she sat up, tears in her eyes, "What the...oh..."

She blinked as she felt a tear slide down her face. Taking a deep breathe she looked around her surroundings, realizing where she was. That's right... I'm the game Elder Tale now... away from that wretched man I used to call Dad... she thought to herself as she glanced over to the far side of the roof she was sleeping on. In the corner curled up like a cat was Akashi, sleeping as soundly as ever.

Jeez, being a race like Wolf Fang must make you sleep like that now... thought Nami with a smile as she stood up and gazed at the moon, I don't suppose he'll mind if I take some time for a walk...

It had been about a month since about 30,000 Japanese players had been sucked into the world of Elder Tale, Nami and Akashi included. Everyone, generally, had gotten used to living out their lives with but a few problems here and there. Along with that were the exploits of Shiroe and company. Nami had kept somewhat in contact with the strange enchanter, being that he was well known all around as some kind of famous strategist. Nami really hadn't heard of him, but still appreciated the fact that he didn't deny her questions about how Elder Tale and how people are handling the transition into it. According to some of her contacts, Shiroe had apparently just returned from a trip to Susukino. The situation was evidently quite bad there...

Nami sighed as she continued to ponder on the events that had occurred in the past month. Sitting atop an even taller abandoned building that overlooked the city, Nami clutched her legs as she pressed her thighs closer to her chest. What to do what to do...

A sudden blur of movement out of the corner of her eye cut of her train of thought however, as she suddenly rolled forward farther onto the ledge of the building and rose, bow lifted and arrow notched.

"Whose there?" she called as she pointed the arrow here and there, unsure of what had caused the disturbance.

"You took my spot," came a girl-like voice from the shadows as a young girl stepped out into the light, but this girl was one that Nami recognized.

"Oh... it's just you," sighed Nami as she lowered her bow and un-notched her arrow, "You're the person that always travels with Shiroe right?"

"Yes, my name is Akatsuki in case you forgot," replied Akatsuki sharply as she walked forward and pushed Nami aside from the ledge before assuming a meditative position at the very edge, "And this is where I usually sit here and meditate. You took my spot."

"Oh... sorry," coughed Nami shyly before she sat down behind Akatsuki, analyzing her stats. Another Assassin... she thought as she examined the equipment Akatsuki had. This process only took but a few moments though and before Nami knew it, she was extremely bored.

Tapping her foot on the ground she looked back and forth, unsure of what to do. She couldn't really think about serious topics anymore being that Akatsuki had interrupted her deep mindset earlier.

"So... mmm why are you out here so late?" asked Nami after a few minutes of pacing around the room, "I mean... no one else is really up and about at this hour."

She saw the small assassin tense a bit at her question before relaxing.

"I'm here to meditate and keep watch over my lord," replied Akatsuki formally as she pointed a finger downwards at the base of the building. Nami, curious of what she was pointing at, peered down to see a small campfire sitting at the base of the building.

"Your lord?" asked Nami curiously as she glanced over at the girl, "Do you mean Shiroe?"

A nod was the only response from Akatsuki as all conversation ceased for a few minutes.

"So what do you make of our situation here?" asked Nami casually after a few minutes had passed. Akatsuki opened her eyes and looked over to Nami, her eyes filled with some darkness that Nami couldn't point out.

"I am making due with what I have to work with as of now," replied Akatsuki as she stood up and turned her attention towards the moon, "But I'm sure my lord will figure some way to return us to our normal lives."

"What if we don't want to return?" replied Nami as she gazed down below, her head resting upon the palms of her hands, "I mean... this world isn't all that bad and besides... limitations in the real world aren't even considered here. We can jump higher, fight better, and practically live forever!"

In response to that Akatsuki just shook her head with a sigh, unsure of what to say. Nami blinked once or twice at Akatsuki before shrugging.

"It was just a thought. You don't have to take my words as law. I'm just throwing out... ideas... well it's getting sort of late... I better get going.."

Nami nodded her goodbye to Akatsuki before playfully rolling off the edge of the building and gracefully landing at a nearby ledge before leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Akatsuki watched as she went, her eyebrows scrunching together with a sense of curiousness and confusion.

"She's not like you and I," said Shiroe from the doorway of the rooftop as he came out of the shadows.

"My lord?" replied Akatsuki as she turned questioningly to Shiroe.

"I'm not genius at this... but I feel as though she's one of the few... if not many that play this game to escape."

"Escape, my lord?"

"Yes. I'm no expert at this so let's just leave it at that Akatsuki," smiled Shiroe as he turned to walk down the stairs, "We have important business to attend to tomorrow."

Nami landed on the roof quietly, trying not to make the slightest sound upon landing. Looking around to make sure no one was there, she started to walk back towards the place where she had slept.

"And just where were you?" came a deep voice from her right. Nami turned to see Akashi leaning against the wall, his faced holding his usual bored look on it as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well?"

"I went for a walk." she replied curtly.

"Anything wrong? I can try and help you know."

"No. Not anymore."

An unsettling silence fell upon the two as Akashi stared at Nami for a moment before shrugging. Deciding it was best for the both of them, Akashi went back over to his sleeping area and curled up once more, his Wolf Fang instincts kicking in. Nami watched as he did so before she to lay down to get some rest. Well tonight was... interesting to say at the least she though to herself as she looked towards the stars of the virtual world, I'm sure there are other people who feel the same as me though... maybe not Akatsuki or Shiroe... but they haven't gone through what i've gone through...

A/N: Okay, I know what some of you may be thinking that this chapter was completely off topic and random, but I can assure you that this will be important for later chapters. It's just for character development and such since I want to give more motives and reasonings behind actions characters take in this story. Any questions or suggestions, feel free to ask. I'm open to many things as well as corrections of my grammatical or spelling mistakes.